Response to Global HIV/AIDS
The
World Health Organization
estimates that 33.2 million people were
living with HIV, globally, in 2007. In
addition an estimated 2.5 million individuals
were newly infected, and 2.1 million people
died of AIDS in 2007. Sub-Saharan Africa
is the most affected region in the global
AIDS epidemic, accounting for more than
two thirds (68%) of all people infected
with HIV.
The
President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
(PEPFAR) was initiated in 2003 and is
the largest commitment ever by any nation
for an international health initiative
dedicated to a single disease. Authorized
by P.L. 108-25, PEPFAR allocated $15 billion
over a 5-year period. PEPFAR's goals were
to provide treatment to 2 million HIV-infected
people; prevent 7 million new HIV infections;
and provide care to 10 million people
infected and affected by HIV/AIDS, including
orphans and vulnerable children. When
PEPFAR was launched in 2003, approximately
50,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa were
receiving antiretroviral treatment. Today,
PEPFAR supports lifesaving treatment for
over 1.7 million people worldwide, the
vast majority of them in sub-Saharan Africa.
PEPFAR has also supported care for more
than 6.6 million people, including 2.7
million orphans and vulnerable children.
To date, PEPFAR has allowed nearly 200,000
children to be born HIV free.
In
2008, PEPFAR was in effect expanded under
H.R. 5501, the Tom Lantos and Henry J.
Hyde United States Global Leadership Against
HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization
Act of 2008. This legislation responds
to the President's call to expand the
U.S. Government commitment to this successful
program for five additional years, from
2009 through 2013. This legislation will
increase the U.S. financial commitment
to the fight against global HIV/AIDS,
tuberculosis, and malaria, authorizing
up to $48 billion to combat these three
diseases.
Working
in partnership with host nations, PEPFAR
will support treatment for at least 3
million people; prevention of 12 million
new infections; and care for 12 million
people, including 5 million orphans and
vulnerable children. To meet these goals,
PEPFAR will support training of at least
140,000 new health care workers in HIV/AIDS
prevention, treatment and care.
