COVID is far from over, vaccines have yet to be widely distributed in low and middle-income countries, and this new pandemic has massively disrupted the global HIV response. Our progress on HIV is disappearing, and to get it back on track Congress must increase funding to PEPFAR. Congress is in the final stages of the appropriations bill for 2022 and now is the time to push for the $750 million needed for people with HIV.
“Good (morning/afternoon),
I’m calling [insert Senator here] today with an urgent health justice ask:
With the FY22 budget Markup scheduled for July 12, I need [insert Senator here] to advocate for a $750 million increase for PEPFAR in the FY22 budget. Years of flat funding combined with the COVID19 crisis have had a devastating impact on the global HIV response and $750 million is the bare minimum needed to get the response back on track.
Wil [insert Senator here] support this funding increase for FY22?”
Since 2001, the U.S. has been a leader in funding the global AIDS response. It is the biggest donor to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, and home to the largest fund in history for a single disease: the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
Political leadership from the U.S. through these two programs has made the end of the AIDS pandemic possible in the foreseeable future. However, the U.S. has recently failed to prioritize funding levels for PEPFAR and the Global Fund. Research from Kaiser Family Foundation shows these programs have been essentially flat-funded since 2010.
In recent years, there have been major scientific advancements within the HIV community, and new evidence shows that starting people on treatment upon diagnosis leads to considerably better outcomes. Research has also shown that when people are on treatment and have sustained viral suppression, they cannot transmit HIV.
In the absence of funding increases to PEPFAR and the Global Fund, the potential of these scientific breakthroughs has not been fully realized, at the cost of millions of human lives. According to UNAIDS, a $7.2 billion funding gap per year must be filled in order to achieve the global goal of ending AIDS as a global public health threat by 2030. Millions of lives depend on Congress to increase its investment in global health and the HIV response.
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