Since the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief — PEPFAR — was created by George W. Bush in 2003, more than 26 million lives have been saved. The program, which operates in 70 countries, is on hold as part of the freeze on USAID.
If PEPFAR is not re-authorized between 2025 and 2029 and other resources are not found for the HIV response, “there would be a 400 per cent increase in AIDS death”, Christine Stegling, deputy executive director of UNAIDS said in a press conference. “That’s 6.3 million people, 6.3 million AIDS related deaths that will occur in the future.”
The United Nations estimates 5.5 million babies were born HIV-free from mothers living with AIDS and more than 70 million people have gotten HIV tests because of PEPFAR, according to its website.
After Bush left office, he brought the PEPFAR program along with him to Dallas where it was run at the Bush Presidential Center in Dallas.
The program funds prevention as well as testing and anti-retroviral treatment. Since its founding, PEPFAR has spent more than $100 billion fighting HIV/AIDS.
— David Taffet
