Editor’s note: This commentary is by Greg Hamilton, who is a senior at St. Michael’s College, where he has been part of the Student Global AIDS Campaign.
[T]he Dec. 11 deadline for Congress to reach a budget deal to fund the government for another year is fast approaching. The outcome of a component of the budget determines life or death for millions of patients in impoverished countries. A potential government shutdown is looming on the horizon, and the real-world impacts of sequestration continue to severely threaten our abilities to reach an AIDS-free generation.
Recently, a speaker came to St. Michael’s College named Maureen Milanga. Maureen is an advocate in Kenya who worked with partners in Kenya to help free up U.S. aid to introduce lifelong anti-retroviral treatment (ART) for all HIV positive pregnant women in Kenya. She spoke passionately about the change that has occurred in Kenya since access to treatment has become widespread and stressed the importance of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), one of the world’s largest global health initiatives. A new era where an AIDS diagnosis is no longer a death sentence in less developed countries is beginning to manifest itself.
PEPFAR, one of President George W. Bush’s most substantive legacies, has saved millions of lives by providing medications for people living with HIV, kept countless babies from being born with HIV, and prevented millions of new infections through effective preventive efforts.
We have the tools; we have the science, now we only need the political will to end the AIDS epidemic.
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In addition to PEPFAR’s success as a global health initiative, it has proven to be a tool of national security — PEPFAR surveillance systems, health workers, and response networks quashed outbreaks of Ebola in Uganda and Nigeria as early as 2012.
Unfortunately, the Obama administration has not done its part to protect or promote PEPFAR’s achievements. President Obama’s cuts to the program since 2010 have sent it into a troubling backpedal. These budget cuts have resulted in steep declines in PEPFAR’s new enrollments on live-saving medication in 2014 for the first time in the program’s history. This increases morbidity, mortality and the spread of the epidemic — a step backward in the progress towards an AIDS-free generation and a more productive and secure world.
We need to build upon the successes we have made around the world to treat and prevent HIV, not go backwards. This summer UNAIDS reported that 15 million patients are currently receiving life-saving treatment for AIDS, a number once thought to be inconceivable when only a few hundred thousand people had access just 12 years ago. In the last year, we’ve learned that treatment for HIV not only gives a normal life span for patients by suppressing viral levels to undetectable rates, but also reduces transmission of the virus by greater than 99 percent — leading renowned NIH researcher Dr. Anthony Fauci to declare we can end the epidemic “within the decade.” But we can’t do this without correcting President Obama’s track record of funding cuts for AIDS patients.
We have the tools; we have the science, now we only need the political will to end the AIDS epidemic. Sen. Patrick Leahy, who is a ranking member of the appropriations subcommittee that oversees global health budgets, has the power to get us back on the right track by fighting to restore $300 million to PEPFAR in the inevitable spending deal. In addition, action is needed from all of the sitting senators to ensure a healthier, more peaceful, and prosperous future by committing to restoring funding now and supporting robust funding for AIDS programming.
We at St. Michael’s College recognize we need Congress members to lead with pragmatic attention to programs that promote peace and stability and that are proven and effective. PEPFAR is essential for ending AIDS but also for the security and stability that it promotes. Sen. Patrick Leahy has been a compassionate advocate for people living with HIV for many years, and can prove his mettle by once again fighting to restore funding to one of the most successful global health initiatives in history, and by leading the world boldly towards an AIDS-free generation.