Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation Applauds Nation’s Leaders for Negotiating a Budget Deal
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Racine Tucker-Hamilton, 202-448-8456, rtuckerhamilton@pedaids.org
Jane Coaston, 202-280-1648, jcoaston@pedaids.org
Funding For Women and Children Living with HIV Will Continue
Jan. 2, 2013, Washington, D.C. – The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) is pleased President Obama and members of Congress have agreed on a budget deal that will avert a fiscal cliff and prevent immediate funding cuts to global health programs including treatment for people and children living with HIV and AIDS.
“We are pleased that our nation’s leaders were able to come to an agreement that will allow millions of people around the world, including children, to continue receiving life-saving HIV and AIDS treatment,” said Charles Lyons, president and CEO of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. “However, the budget deal only provides a temporary reprieve from spending cuts, and funding for fighting HIV around the world is still in jeopardy. The first step to achieving an AIDS-free generation is ensuring that no child is born with HIV, and that hinges on providing essential prenatal treatment and services to pregnant women living with HIV.”
Failure to reach a fiscal cliff deal would have led to tax increases for all taxpayers and across-the-board cuts to most non-defense discretionary spending, including global health programs. The 8.2 percent funding cuts for global health HIV/AIDS programs would amount to $483 million. According to the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amFAR), the cuts could have resulted in eliminating HIV/AIDS treatment for more than 276,000 people and a lack of PMTCT (prevention of mother-to-child-transmission) services for 112,500 HIV-positive women, leading to more than 21,000 infants possibly being born with HIV.
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About the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation:
EGPAF is a global leader in the fight against pediatric HIV/AIDS, and has reached more than 15 million women with services to prevent transmission of HIV to their babies. It currently works at more than 5,400 sites and in 15 countries to implement prevention, care, and treatment services; to further advance innovative research; and to execute global advocacy activities that bring dramatic change to the lives of millions of women, children, and families worldwide. For more information, visit pedaids.org.
