Seventy-five Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. House, led by U.S. Representatives Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) and Mike Lawler (R-NY), have expressed strong support for reauthorizing the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
The House leaders voiced that support in a July 20 letter to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and US Global AIDS Coordinator Dr. John Nkengasong. The letter follows a similar bipartisan letter from 20 U.S. Senators, led by Senator Bill Cassidy, MD (R-LA), calling for the reauthorization of PEPFAR. These leaders, along with Secretary Blinken and Dr. John Nkengasong remain optimistic that the goal of ending AIDS as a global health threat by 2030 can be achieved.
Since the inception of PEPFAR in 2003, the United States has invested more than $100 billion in the global HIV/AIDS response and saved 25 million lives. In close partnership with national, multi-lateral and civil society partners, PEPFAR has supported the prevention of millions of HIV infections, and accompanying several countries to achieve HIV epidemic control, all while significantly strengthening global economic security.
ASCP partnered with PEPFAR since its creation, helping to build efficient and reliable laboratory and resistant health systems in more than 20 countries. Improved laboratory systems will not only enhance national responses to global health threats, but may establish the core capabilities required to sustainably detect and respond to outbreaks before they become epidemics. PEPFAR is a testament of what is possible when bipartisan support and different partners lead with collective action to address global challenges. Everyone should be proud of PEPFAR’s remarkable legacy, and they should support its reauthorization in order to end AIDS as a global health threat by 2030.
To read more articles from this issue of ePolicy, click
here. To learn more about ePolicy News and access past newsletters and articles, click
here.
