AHF chart shows how Senate global AIDS bill will save five to seven million lives

A chart prepared by AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), which provides AIDS care and treatment services to more than 79,000 individuals in 20 countries worldwide, shows how the Senate version of legislation to re-authorize PEPFAR (the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), the successful US global AIDS program, will be able to save five to seven million lives over the next five years.

The program is on pace to treat two million people by the end of this year. The Senate bill, which requires that more than half of the $39 billion allocated to HIV/AIDS be spent on medical care and lifesaving antiretroviral treatment, passed in the Senate last week in a 60 to 13 vote. The House of Representatives is widely expected to ratify the Senate bill later this week without major changes to the bill.

The Senate bill also includes a requirement that PEPFAR providers strive to deliver lifesaving treatment in a more efficient manner, and that any reductions in PEPFAR spending due to such efficiencies would trigger a corresponding increase in the goal of the number of those on treatment through the program. AHF’s chart demonstrates spending allocations for PEPFAR over the next five years together with the target goal of those on antiretroviral treatment (ART), including the proportional funding increase. The AHF chart also includes two other projections of ART targets including the baseline proportional funding increase as well as stepped-up treatment goals based upon 25% and 50% percent reductions in per-patient-spending.

To view AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s “Cumulative PEPFAR Treatment Target” chart, follow this link: http://www.aidshealth.org/images/pdfs/PEPFARTreatmentGraph072108.pdf

PEPFAR was the result of President Bush's groundbreaking 2003 State of the Union pledge to bring two million HIV positive Africans and others into treatment and prevent seven million new HIV infections via a five-year, $15 billion US-funded program. It currently operates in 15 focus countries and claims to support antiretroviral treatment for 1.4 million people worldwide. PEPFAR has been one of the most successful global humanitarian programs in recent memory, providing medical care to millions of people with HIV/AIDS, it has given hope to the 33 million people with HIV/AIDS in the world.