Two decades ago, the U.S. government created what’s described as the largest commitment by any nation in history to combat a single disease, AIDS. Today, a few Republican lawmakers in Congress are threatening the stability of that program.
Graves of children who died of AIDS, many from two decades ago, are seen at an orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya, on Friday, Sept. 8, 2023. A U.S. foreign aid program that officials say has saved 25 million lives in Africa and elsewhere is being threatened by some Republicans who fear program funding might go to organizations that promote abortion.
Now, a few Republican lawmakers are endangering the stability of the program, which officials say has saved 25 million lives in 55 countries from Ukraine to Brazil to Indonesia. That includes the lives of 5.5 million infants born HIV-free.ADVERTISEMENT The issue of abortion has been a sensitive one since PEPFAR’s inception in 2003. But each time the program came up for renewal in Congress, Republicans and Democrats were able to put aside partisan politics to support a program that’s long been seen as the vanguard of global aid.
In language echoing the early, harsh years of the epidemic, Heritage called HIV/AIDS a “lifestyle disease” that should be suppressed by “education, moral suasion and legal sanctions.” It recommended halving U.S. funding for PEPFAR, saying poor countries should bear more of the costs. The proposal would also include a measure that requires at least 10% of funds to be directed to NGOs like the Nairobi orphanage, which targets orphans and vulnerable children affected by HIV/AIDS.
Without that, the virus could come back, “and about 20 million lives might be lost in the coming years,” he said. “The fragile gains that we’ve achieved will be lost.” Mark Dybul, who helped create and lead PEPFAR under Bush, warned that weakening PEPFAR would also hurt the diplomatic goodwill the U.S. has created in developing regions.
The number of children in sub-Saharan Africa newly orphaned by AIDS reached a peak of 1.6 million in 2004, the year that PEPFAR began its rollout of HIV drugs, researchers wrote in a defense of the program published by The Lancet medical journal last month. In 2021, the number of new orphans had dropped to 382,000.Now the orphanage is transformed. Children dart around playing soccer or swing in the colorful play area. Some are among the 1.
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