What impact has 20 years of US funding had on HIV/AIDS?
In the 20 years since U.S. President George W. Bush launched the world’s biggest investment to fight HIV/AIDS, the fund has had a “dramatic and life-saving impact”, UNAIDS U.S.
liaison office director Vinay Saldhana told Openly. The U.S. government says it has invested more than $110 billion through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and saved 25 million lives and prevented millions of HIV infections.
But the programme is now under threat after Congress in October renewed its funding for only one year, instead of the usual five. What prompted the investment? When PEPFAR was introduced in 2003, 40 million people were living with HIV/AIDS globally, and 20 million had already died from the virus, according to UNAIDS.
In sub-Saharan Africa, where two-thirds of cases were found, infection rates were “rampant”, the United Nations 2003 AIDS Epidemic Update said.
