JANUARY 2006 — The Final Report for the IMPACT Project in the Dominican Republic documents the critically important technical and program assistance that the Implementing AIDS Prevention and Care (IMPACT) Project provided to the Dominican Republic's National STI and HIV/AIDS Program and the Ministry of Health from 1998 to 2004.

With funding from the U.S, Agency for International Development, IMPACT helped these agencies develop services for HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. In its first year, IMPACT provided technical and financial support to develop the National STI/HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan and work plans for 19 provinces. IMPACT also helped develop the country's National STI and HIV Counseling Norms and supported training in STI syndromic management.

Under IMPACT, the country's first pilot sites for services to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission opened at Ricardo Limardo Hospital in Puerto Plata and at Las Minas Hospital, Altagracia Maternity Hospital and the Military Hospital in Santo Domingo. Because the Santo Domingo hospitals together serve more than half the country's pregnant women, these sites alone have significantly lowered vertical transmission within the Dominican Republic.

IMPACT also helped launch HIV voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) services in the Dominican Republic, adding pre- and post-test counseling services to existing HIV testing services, which served more than 100,000 clients nationwide between April 2003 and August 2004. By the time the project ended, more than 100 health facilities were offering VCT, providing a gateway to comprehensive HIV and AIDS services for the Dominican population.