PEPFAR News and Research

RSS

Call to step up the fight against tuberculosis

In honor of World TB Day 2008 (March 24), the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the HIVMA Medicine Association (HIVMA) urged U.S. policymakers to step up the fight against tuberculosis by committing substantial resources against the disease both at home and abroad.

24 Mar 2008

AHF to congress: keep PEPFAR funding priority on AIDS treatment

With a bipartisan voice vote earlier today, The House Foreign Affairs Committee today passed House Resolution 5501 (the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Reauthorization Act), a bill to reauthorize the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the US global AIDS program.

28 Feb 2008

Bush's PEPFAR at risk, says AHF

As President Bush begins a five-country tour of Africa to visit and highlight programs funded by the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the five year-old US global AIDS program which Congress created at his request, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has cautioned the President that his legacy as a leader in the global fight against HIV and AIDS is at risk due to proposed changes in the priorities of PEPFAR that essentially cut the heart out of this lifesaving AIDS care and treatment program. PEPFAR is currently up for reauthorization by Congress.

17 Feb 2008

Democrats to seek changes, boosted funding during PEPFAR reauthorization debate

Some Congressional Democrats have proposed removing abstinence program spending requirements and a mandatory pledge against commercial sex work in the upcoming reauthorization of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the AP/Yahoo! News reports (Abrams, AP/Yahoo! News, 2/2). The lawmakers also are hoping to allow "reproductive health groups to have broader access to U.S. money," according to CQ Today.

4 Feb 2008

Bush in State of the Union address calls on Congress to allocate $30 billion for PEPFAR

President Bush on Monday during his last State of the Union address urged Congress to authorize a $30 billion, five-year extension of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the New York Times reports (Stolberg, New York Times, 1/29).

30 Jan 2008

New UNAIDS report offers encouraging news, but most HIV-positive mothers still not getting care

The following statement was released today by Pamela W. Barnes, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation:

21 Nov 2007

Abstinence only sex programmes - a waste of government money?

The latest research confirms and supports earlier work which has stated that programmes which exclusively advocate abstinence from sex in order to stop risky sexual behaviour or help in the prevention of unwanted pregnancy, are ineffective.

6 Aug 2007

Abstinence from sex fails to cut risk of HIV infection in high income countries

Programmes that exclusively encourage abstinence from sex do not seem to affect the risk of HIV infection in high income countries, finds a review of the evidence in this week's BMJ.

3 Aug 2007

PEPFAR 'on track' to meet goals when authorization expires, Dybul says

The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief is "dead on track" to meet its goal of providing antiretroviral drugs to two million people when it's five-year authorization expires in 2008, Ambassador Mark Dybul, who serves as the U.S. global AIDS coordinator and administers PEPFAR, said Thursday in an interview during a visit to San Francisco, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

1 May 2007

Resistance to anti-HIV drugs in Uganda developed due to drug supply problems

Some HIV-infected patients in Uganda who self-paid for their antiretroviral medications experienced interruptions in drug supply due to either financial demands or supply logistical disruptions.

24 Apr 2007

Grave warning about the state of AIDS treatment scale-up

The new AIDS treatment access numbers released by the World Health Organization (WHO) today are a grave warning about the state of AIDS treatment scale-up.

18 Apr 2007

President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief making significant contributions to the fight against HIV/AIDS pandemic

...but it needs to strengthen its prevention efforts and develop programs that ensure long-term sustainability in focus countries, according to a report released Friday by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council, the Washington Post reports

2 Apr 2007

International donors must connect fight against HIV/AIDS to ending violence against women

Governments and international donors, including the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, need to address violence against women in the context of HIV/AIDS programs, according to a report conducted by Women Won't Wait and released on Tuesday, Reuters South Africa reports.

8 Mar 2007

Federal Appeals Court rules in favor of U.S. policy requiring groups that receive HIV/AIDS funding to condemn commercial sex work

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Tuesday ruled that a U.S. policy requiring recipients of federal HIV/AIDS service grants to pledge to oppose commercial sex work does not violate the groups' First Amendment right to free speech, the AP/International Herald Tribune reports.

1 Mar 2007

Male circumcision reduces men's HIV infection risk by 65%

Routine male circumcision could reduce a man's risk of HIV infection through heterosexual sex by 65%, according to final data from two NIH-funded studies conducted in Kenya and Uganda published in the Feb. 23 issue of the journal Lancet, the New York Times reports.

25 Feb 2007

Global partnership to launch $10 million initiative that aims to bolster HIV/AIDS care in 10 African countries using cell phones

A new public-private partnership on Tuesday at the 2007 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, announced the launch of a new $10 million campaign that will use cell phones to bolster HIV/AIDS care and treatment in 10 African countries, Reuters reports.

19 Feb 2007

Bush spending bill allocates $1.3 billion increase to fund international HIV/AIDS, TB programs

President Bush on Thursday signed a $463.5 billion spending resolution (HJ Res 20) for fiscal year 2007 that includes a $1.3 billion increase for international HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis programs.

19 Feb 2007

Bush's budget proposal would allocate $5.4 billion for the "President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief"

President Bush on Monday released his $2.8 trillion fiscal year 2008 budget proposal, which would allocate $5.4 billion for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the Wall Street Journal reports.

7 Feb 2007

Caribbean summit on HIV/AIDS long overdue

At last week's Caribbean Summit on HIV/AIDS in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, a "few regional leaders ... have finally taken their heads out of our soft sand," which hopefully will "expos[e] the salutary neglect" of those heads of state who have not applied for funds from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief for "political reasons" or "fatal ignorance.

30 Jan 2007

Poverty, gender inequality contributing to spread of HIV in Caribbean

Poverty, gender inequality and discrimination are hampering efforts to curb the spread of HIV in the Caribbean, speakers at the Caribbean Summit on HIV/AIDS in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, said on Sunday, the Caribbean Net News reports.

28 Jan 2007