Year in Review: Advocacy and Public Policy
True to our origins, EGPAF aims to create an enabling environment—social, economic, political, and cultural—to deliver on our mission of ending AIDS in children, youth, and families. At national and subnational levels, this involves continued engagements with policymakers for the delivery of the work and continuity of program interventions even after project closure.
Learn about our advocacy work across Africa, the United States, and on the global stage.
35 Years of Impact
2023 marked EGPAF’s 35th anniversary, with a global call to action that “Now Is the Time” to end AIDS in children. EGPAF hosted a 35th Anniversary reception in June that recognized critical leadership on Capitol Hill towards ending pediatric AIDS. EGPAF honored Congresswomen Barbara Lee (D-CA), and Jeniffer Gonzalez-Colon (R-PR) for their role as co-chairs of the Congressional HIV/AIDS Caucus. Other attendees included administration officials from PEPFAR, USAID, CDC, and NIH, EGPAF board members, staff and ambassadors, and Congressional staff.
Our anniversary activities at the end of the year coincided with World AIDS Day, December 1, with its theme to “Let Communities Lead“.
Global
The Global Fund
Throughout 2023, EGPAF engaged with the Global Fund Secretariat to ensure increased communication about children and the Global Fund. Among several activities and coordinated communication, EGPAF participated in a Global Fund-hosted situation room on pediatrics to share information about country grants and to discuss ways to increase funding allocation to pediatrics.
On December 2, 2023, immediately after World AIDS Day, EGPAF CEO Chip Lyons and Global Fund Executive Director Peter Sands co-authored a Forbes Magazine Op-Ed, “Ending AIDS Among Children Can Be an Inspiration Toward Ending All Preventable Deaths Among Children.” They pointed out that systemic inequities continue to hamper progress toward an AIDS-free generation, but that the health benefits of eliminating those barriers will increase the overall well-being of children.
“Ending AIDS-related deaths among children will not only save tens of thousands of lives each year, but it can also be an inspiration for a future where no child dies from preventable and treatable causes. So, we must ask ourselves: When we can end preventable deaths among children, why wouldn’t we?” —EGPAF CEO Chip Lyons and Global Fund Executive Director Peter Sands
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is a curable and preventable disease, yet it remains the second deadliest infectious killer after COVID-19. TB is more likely to occur in people living with HIV, and drug-resistant TB is almost twice as common in people living with HIV. As with many health threats, children face inequities in the TB response, with a higher risk of becoming sick and dying from the disease compared to adults.
To this end, EGPAF participated in the UN High Level Meeting on Tuberculosis, successfully securing language about childhood TB and pediatric TB research and development in the final UN Political Declaration on TB.
GAP-f (Global Accelerator for Pediatric formulations)
Coordinating with the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), EGPAF worked with a few member states (Brazil, France, and Canada among other) to advocate for a World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board agenda item on pediatric access to medicines. In addition, EGPAF worked with GAP-f partners to ensure that access to medicines for children is included as part of a World Health Assembly (WHA) resolution on maternal and child health which was passed in January 2024
Pediatric Adolescent Virus Elimination (PAVE) Collaboratory
EGPAF board member Deborah Persaud M.D. is co-director of this research project to develop an intervention that can lead to HIV remission or, even, a cure. PAVE is the only pediatric Martin Delaney Collaboratory funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
EGPAF board member Josephine Nabukenya and EGPAF ambassador Martha Sichone-Cameron are members of the community advisory board (CAB), providing input from communities most affected by HIV. Members of the CAB have two roles. They advise the researchers and ask tough questions to ensure the research being done is fully considered from patient and community perspectives. And they also engage their communities and promote health literacy
Global Advocacy in Action
Read our commentary in The Lancet about Reversing the neglect of children and adolescents affected by tuberculosis.
Learn about the importance of community advisory boards in research projects.
Fight for what counts with our Global Fund Checklists to maximize the funding cycle for children.
United States
PEPFAR Reauthorization
In 2023, the U.S. President’s Emergency Resolution (PEPFAR) came up for reauthorization. PEPFAR, established by President George W. Bush, represents the largest commitment by any nation to address a single disease in history. It has had strong bipartisan support across ten U.S. congresses and four presidential administrations. In the past, PEPFAR’s expiring provisions have always been reauthorized in five-year increments.
Although funding for PEPFAR continues, its reauthorization stalled in 2023. Bipartisan support remains strong for the program. EGPAF navigated the tricky political environment, and in addition to stand-alone efforts, EGPAF played a prominent leadership role within the broader HIV community on advocacy through the Global AIDS Policy Partnership.
Africa
Elimination of Vertical Transmission
In 2023, EGPAF led an advocacy campaign to reposition EGPAF’s national and global leadership to drive the elimination of vertical transmission (EVT)—also called prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission. The initiative focuses on country programs driving advocacy efforts on EVT reprioritization leading to reduced HIV infections among children.
African Union
In February 2023, EGPAF signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the African Union Commission to foster collaboration and support Africa’s efforts to end AIDS and TB by 2030.
The agreement will build on the mandate of AIDS Watch Africa, which is a statutory entity of the African Union.
The agreement formalizes the mutual interaction and strengthens the relationship to address the inequalities children face in AIDS and TB response.
“I am looking forward to the implementation of the new actions as a result of this cooperation, especially around addressing the gaps in care for children and adolescents who bear the brunt of the epidemic in Africa.” — H.E Amb. Minata Samate Cessouma, African Union Commissioner for Health Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development
Africa REACH
2023 was the inaugural year for Africa REACH (Africa Reaching the End of AIDS in Children and Young People by 2025). The organization has sparked a continent-wide movement, generating both enthusiasm and tangible progress. The Desmond Tutu Health Foundation (DTHF) and EGPAF established this initiative through a partnership, with the secretariat actively participating in the communication and advocacy community of practice and closely collaborating with the PPA team.
Read the 2023 accomplishments of Africa Reach.
Regional Psychosocial Support Initiatives (REPSSI)
In October, EGPAF participated in the “Mental Health in Context” forum convened by the Regional Psychosocial Support Initiatives (REPSSI) and hosted by the Regional Inter-agency Task Team on Children and AIDS in Eastern and Southern Africa (RIATT ESA)—a network to which EGPAF belongs. The meeting drew participants from 13 East and Southern African countries to explore the determinants of mental health and interrogate the correlation between mental health outcomes, mental health interventions and services. HIV prevention and management as well as sexual and reproductive health and rights remain a central focus—with climate change, pandemics and technology as emerging critical themes affecting the mental health of Africa’s children and youth.
More Year in Review
