Health Global Access Project: Biden's First Budget Won't Put the World on Track to End AIDS

BROOKLYN, New York, April 10 -- Health Global Access Project issued the following statement:

* * *

Following the release of the outline of President Joseph R. Biden's first budget, Matthew Rose, Director of U.S. Policy and Advocacy, Health GAP, said:

"After years of neglect during the Trump and Obama years, President Biden's proposed global health budget (https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/FY2022-Discretionary-Request.pdf) increase of approximately $800 million for global health programs does not permit the major surge in funding for global AIDS funding through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

Biden has the opportunity to be the president who saves countless lives by ending AIDS as a global public health threat, but time is running out. It will take a more significant commitment and bold leadership that brings sufficient funding, a qualified nominee to lead the response, and human rights and evidence-based policies developed in deep consultation with the most affected communities.

The last year of unfathomable human loss and health system collapse during colliding pandemics should have taught us the importance of investing in the human right to health, including making life-saving medicines available to all people, worldwide. We know how to end AIDS, but elected leaders still lack the will to make it a reality. This is not the time to turn a blind eye to the devastating impact of underfunding the HIV response. Biden should lead a renewed global HIV response founded in justice and human rights, dedicated to ending AIDS as a global public health threat. But without sufficient funding, people will continue to suffer and needlessly die preventable deaths. Biden must consider these possibilities and choose to truly lead in this moment, not let it pass by."

Activists are calling on Congress to pass a budget that increases PEPPAR funding at least $750 million for FY22 and $2.5 billion over the next four years to scale up HIV prevention and treatment and effectively mitigate the harms of COVID-19.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic,

* HIV testing has reduced nearly 40% compared to 2019;

* Some countries have seen a 25% decline in the number of HIV positive pregnant women accessing services to prevent perinatal HIV transmission;

* HIV treatment initiation has dropped by 25% across many age groups;

* Voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) over one year fell 74% and there are similar declines in prevention for adolescent girls and young women, such as PEPFAR's DREAMS program.

Activists are also calling on the president to name a qualified nominee (https://healthgap.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Biden-Letter.pdf) to serve as the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator. Biden has not yet named his pick to lead PEPFAR in this crucial moment in the pandemic, a troubling sign that the administration has taken its eye off the global HIV response.

* * *

To: The Honorable Joseph Biden, President of the United States, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Biden:

We, the undersigned civil society organizations, are calling on your administration to prioritize achievement of the global goal of securing a defeat of HIV by 2030 as a public health threat by: 1) urgently nominating a qualified U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and U.S. Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy; 2) ensuring that the program he/she/they lead, PEPFAR (the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), remains housed within the U.S. State Department in order to safeguard the integrity of PEPFAR's programming, oversight role, and diplomatic efforts; and 3) ensuring PEPFAR continues to operate with urgency, does not compromise its vision and mission, and at minimum maintains its current guidelines for meaningful engagement of independent civil society at all levels of the program, as codified in the annual PEPFAR Global COP/ROP Global Guidance.

The U.S. alone cannot end HIV as a public health threat, but U.S. leadership has a powerful impact. In the face of two colliding pandemics strong leadership from the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator is greatly needed. Governments around the world including the U.S. have committed to achieving the "95-95-95" HIV service delivery targets by 2030 and PEPFAR is central to providing continuous HIV prevention, testing, and treatment. The COVID-19 epidemic has already resulted in grave disruptions to HIV service delivery and threats to the human rights of communities that are highly marginalized and vulnerable. PEPFAR has a critical role to play in mitigating these adverse effects; preventing further setbacks to treatment, prevention, and health systems; and in strengthening diplomatic engagement with national governments around vital health policy matters. PEPFAR's success requires scale up of evidence-based and human rights driven programs, and an appointment of the next PEPFAR leader is necessary to deliver that acceleration.

This critical moment requires forthright leadership in the global HIV and COVID-19 responses that will help define the global HIV response over the next five years. That leadership must continue to reside in the U.S. State Department to enable PEPFAR to maintain its oversight functions and project the diplomatic weight that the global response to HIV requires. The next PEPFAR Ambassador must understand the continued urgency of the challenges facing achievement of the global HIV targets, have a clear vision to drive continued evidence-based program implementation to ensure services are scaled and delivered with dignity and respect for human rights, and commit to safeguarding -- and expanding -- the integral role of independent civil society advocacy in holding PEPFAR accountable at all levels of the program.

Without a qualified leader in this role, we run the risk of diminishing the impact we will have on achieving our shared global goals, and on shaping PEPFAR's strategic direction. That leadership is needed urgently.

We look forward to your immediate response.

Signed,

SisterLove Inc

Treatment Action Group

Coalition Plus

AVAC

amfAR

CHANGE

MPACT

GNP+

Health GAP

Uganda Key Populations Consortium

(UKPC)

Kenya Key Populations Consortium

Friends of the Global Fight

Infectious Disease Society of America

HIV Medicine Association

CC:

The Honorable Antony John Blinken, United States Secretary of State

Linda Etim, Senior Director for Development, Global Health, and Humanitarian

Response, National Security Council and

Catherine M. Russell, Director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office

[Category: CaptureV]