Treatment

AIDS is still among the most deadly infectious diseases in the world. In sub-Saharan Africa, the epicenter of the pandemic, it is the leading cause of death. More than 22 million of those infected - more than two thirds of all people living with HIV/AIDS - live in the region, and approximately 1.7 million people die of AIDS there each year, more than three-quarters of the global total.

However, there is new reason for hope. On a global basis, UNAIDS also estimates that the number of people dying of AIDS-related causes has declined in recent years, from 2.2 million in 2005 to 2.1 million in 2007. This is the first time such a decline has occurred, and the change is due largely to the increased availability of antiretroviral treatment - though improved prevention and care programs have likely contributed as well.

Lives prolonged through treatment benefit not only those on treatment. The ultimate measure of treatment is the daily impact on individual lives, and therefore on their families, communities and nations.

PEPFAR Five-Year Goal:

• Support treatment for 2 million HIV-infected individuals.

Progress Achieved through September 30, 2008:

• Supported life-saving treatment for more than 2.1 million men, women and children through September 30, 2008, including more than 2 million in the 15 focus countries.
• Treatment support is estimated to save nearly 3.28 million adult years of life through the end of September 2009.
• Increased the share of those receiving PEPFAR-supported treatment who are children from 3 percent in FY2004 to 8 percent in FY2008.
• As of December 20, 2008, 78 generic antiretroviral formulations approved or tentatively approved by the Food and Drug Administration within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Allocation of Resources in FY2008:

• In FY2008, PEPFAR provided $1.6 billion in support of treatment programs, or approximately 48.4 percent of program funding in the program's focus countries.