EGPAF Responds to One-Year Reauthorization of PEPFAR
In response to the one-year agreement to reauthorize the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), EGPAF’s President and CEO, Charles “Chip” Lyons issued the following statement:
While we are disappointed that policymakers did not pass a multi-year reauthorization of PEPFAR during this budget cycle, the one-year reauthorization reinforces the continuing bipartisan support for the lifesaving program. The reauthorization coupled with strong funding for global HIV/AIDS included in the fiscal year 2024 legislation ensures the PEPFAR program will continue to save lives and push the world towards the end of AIDS.
The PEPFAR program is one of the greatest commitments by any nation to address a single disease in history, having saved more than 25 million lives since its implementation in 2003. But our work is not done, and the deadline is rapidly approaching to reach the internationally agreed upon goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. Now is not the time to pull back political leadership.
Despite monumental gains against this disease, serious gaps remain, especially for children. AIDS remains a leading cause of death for children in Africa where PEPFAR conducts much of its critical work. Approximately 130,000 children were newly infected with HIV, and 43% of the 1.5 million children who were known to be living with HIV were not receiving treatment in 2022. While AIDS-related deaths in children have been reduced dramatically since their peak of 360,000 in 2004, approximately 84,000 children still died from AIDS-related complications in 2022.
Sustained, bipartisan U.S. leadership is essential to ending the AIDS epidemic. We can no longer use this lifesaving program as a political football and damage the fragile progress made in ending AIDS in children, youth, and families globally. Congress must do what it takes to sustain an equitable global AIDS response by passing a clean, five-year reauthorization when the program comes up for renewal in the coming months. The certainty of an AIDS-free generation depends upon removing any uncertainty of the importance of PEPFAR.