PEPFAR Fulfills Treatment and Care Commitments

Program Increases Number on Treatment in Sub-Saharan Africa 40-fold from 2003 to 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 1, 2008

Washington, DC – Today, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) announced that the United States has fulfilled its commitment early to support treatment for two million people. As of September 30, 2008, PEPFAR supported life-saving antiretroviral treatment for more than 2.1 million men, women and children living with HIV/AIDS around the world. When President George W. Bush announced PEPFAR in 2003, it was estimated that only 50,000 people were receiving treatment for HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. Today, PEPFAR supports treatment for more than 2 million people in sub-Saharan Africa -- forty times the number receiving treatment only five years ago.

As of September 30, 2008, nearly 9.7 million people affected by HIV/AIDS in PEPFAR’s 15 focus countries had received compassionate care, including nearly 4 million orphans and vulnerable children. It is safe to say that as of December 1, 2008, the U.S. also has met the goal of supporting care for 10 million people affected by HIV in the focus countries. Globally, the U.S. is supporting care for over 10.1 million, including over 4 million children.

“We are extremely pleased to be meeting our goals ahead of schedule thanks to the commitment of the American people,” said Ambassador Mark Dybul, PEPFAR Coordinator. “One of the great untold stories in this effort is the compassion and generosity of the American people.”

In addition, nearly 240,000 babies have been born free of HIV, due to the support of the American people for programs to prevent mothers from passing the virus on to their children. And PEPFAR has supported a strategic prevention portfolio which includes Abstinence, Be faithful, and correct and consistent use of Condoms, providing ABC prevention messages in hundreds of millions of encounters.

When PEPFAR was announced, the program set out aggressive goals of supporting two million people on treatment, supporting prevention of seven million new infections, and supporting care for 10 million people affected by HIV/AIDS, including orphans and vulnerable children.

For more information, please visit http://www.pepfar.gov.

The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was launched in 2003 by President George W. Bush to combat global HIV/AIDS, and is the largest commitment by any nation to combat a single disease in history. Through PEPFAR, the U.S. Government has already provided $18.8 billion in HIV/AIDS funding, with a reauthorization of up to $48 billion for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria over the next five years.