A Moment of Reckoning for U.S. Leadership on Global HIV

What the FY18 US budget could mean for progress on HIV/AIDS

CSIS
CSIS
Aug 25, 2017 · 2 min read
Mark Wilson/Getty Images

The Trump administration’s proposed $2 billion-plus in cuts to global health in its FY 2018 budget includes $1.1 billion from international HIV/AIDS programs. This 18 percent reduction to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and its companion financing institution, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, would put millions of lives at risk and raise the possibility that the pandemic will reignite, threatening U.S. and global health security.

Over the past 15 years, U.S. leadership on global HIV/AIDS has generated remark­able achievements. U.S. investments are delivering life-sustaining treatment to 11.5 million people living with HIV and have brought at least three low-income countries with high HIV burdens close to epidemic control.

PEPFAR has doubled the number of people receiving treatment under flatlined funding over the past five years, but its capacity to continue to do so without major trade-offs is limited. With sufficient resources, PEPFAR can accelerate prevention and treatment efforts even further.

However, U.S. leadership on HIV/AIDS is in jeopardy. There is momentum to achieve epidemic control, but only with sustained funding levels, which may or may not be possible. It is critically important to put this moment in context, be realistic, and lay out a constructive, forward-looking strategy.

To read the full report, click here.

Originally published at www.csis.org.

Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

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Center for Strategic & International Studies is the source for bipartisan foreign policy news, analysis, & solutions to the world’s top challenges since 1962.

Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

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