State Department Maps Out Plan To Shut Down PEPFAR In Coming Years

The New York Times (7/23, Nolen) reports that “the federal program to combat HIV in developing nations earned a reprieve last week when Congress voted to restore $400 million in funding,” but “that may be short-lived: Officials at the State Department have been mapping out a plan to shut it down in the coming years.” According to the Times, “planning documents for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief” (PEPFAR) “call for the organization to set a new course that focuses on ‘transitioning’ countries away from U.S. assistance, some in as little as two years.” PEPFAR “would cease to exist as an initiative to provide medicines and services needed to treat and prevent the spread of HIV in low-income countries.”