EGPAF Responds to Biden Administrations FY ‘25 Budget

In response to the Biden administration’s proposed FY ‘25 budget, EGPAF’s President and CEO, Charles “Chip” Lyons issued the following statement:   

“We are disappointed by the Biden administration’s FY ‘25 budget request that was released earlier this week. Far too many people around the world depend on the services offered by PEPFAR, the Global Fund, CDC, and USAID. By divesting resources away from these critical global health programs, this budget places the health, safety, and security of millions of vulnerable children at risk. Advocates agree that flat funding PEPFAR and proposing over $700 million in cumulative cuts to other global health programs unnecessarily threatens the hard-won gains in the work to end HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria. 

The world is on the cusp of achieving an AIDS-free generation as well as a future free from TB thanks to strong, sustained U.S. investments in global health. Over the past twenty years, programs such as PEPFAR and the Global Fund have saved over 25 million lives from HIV, strengthened health systems globally, and advanced significant progress towards the 95-95-95 goals of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2025. Yet more work still needs to be done to eliminate these epidemics – particularly in children and adolescents. 

Approximately 84,000 children died from AIDS-related complications in 2022 and nearly 600 children under the age of 15 lost their lives to TB every day in the same period. EGPAF will maintain our work with congressional leadership to ensure that funding for these essential programs is safeguarded in the budget approval process and that progress against these epidemics continues. The U.S. must signal to the world the importance of these programs and demonstrate its steadfast leadership in the fight to end pediatric AIDS and childhood TB by investing in global health funding not cutting it.