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Fact Sheet: PEPFAR: A Historic Commitment To Compassion
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For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary July 14, 2008

Fact Sheet: PEPFAR: A Historic Commitment To Compassion

ÿÿWhite House News
The Senate Should Continue President Bush's Lifesaving Initiative To Combat
HIV/AIDS

"A lot has been given to America, and therefore, a lot is required of us,
to deal with human misery, in the form of hunger and disease and
hopelessness. ... America's generosity has been prevalent throughout the
decades.ÿ And every time America reaches out to help a struggling soul we
find that we're a better Nation for it."
 President George W. Bush, 2/14/08

President Bush calls on Congress to reauthorize the President's Emergency
Plan for AIDS Relief and pass S. ÿ2731, the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde
U.S. Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria
Reauthorization Act.ÿIn 2003, President Bush launched the President's
Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief(PEPFAR), committing $15 billion over five
years to combat global HIV/AIDS  the largest international health
initiative in history to fight a single disease.ÿ In 2007, the President
called for Congress to expand our commitment to this successful program for
five additional years.
  þ 

    PEPFAR has already helped bring lifesaving treatment to approximately
    1.7 million people around the world.ÿ
  þ 

    S. 2731 retains core principles that have made PEPFAR such a success in
    its first five years.ÿThis bipartisan legislation will preserve
    PEPFAR's results-oriented focus on supporting HIV/AIDS treatment, care,
    and prevention.ÿ

PEPFAR Reauthorization Legislation Is Consistent With The Program's
Successful, Founding Principles

Abstinence and Be Faithful (AB) programs are essential components of the
U.S. Government's comprehensive, evidence-based, and balanced approach to
preventing sexual transmission of HIV/AIDS.ÿ The legislation before
Congress will restore meaningful funding for AB programs and maintain the
core principle of AB as part of an effective prevention approach.ÿ
  þ 

    This legislation creates the expectation that 50 percent of funding to
    prevent sexual transmission will be spent on AB programs in countries
    with generalized epidemics.ÿ

The anti-prostitution and sex-trafficking policy requirement is critical to
the effectiveness of our strategy to fight global HIV/AIDS.ÿProstitution
and sex trafficking are abusive and dehumanizing to women, and they fuel
the spread of HIV. ÿThis legislation preserves the current law requiring
that organizations receiving U.S. Government money:
  þ Do not use PEPFAR funds to promote or advocate the legalization or
    practice of prostitution or sex trafficking; and
  þ Have a policy opposing prostitution and sex trafficking.

Faith- and other community-based partners are highly effective in combating
the global HIV/AIDS epidemic.ÿThe legislation's strengthened conscience
clause is critical to ensuring continued participation by faith- and
community-based partners, which are uniquely positioned to promote HIV/AIDS
stigma reduction and prevention messages, as well as to provide counseling
and testing, home care, clinical services, and other interventions. ÿThe
bill ensures that these organizations will not be required to participate
in or refer to any program or activity to which they have a religious or
moral objection and ensures that they will not be discriminated against in
procurement for refusing to do so.
The United States leads the world in its support of the Global Fund to
Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.ÿ The United States made the Fund's
founding contribution and has pledged approximately $4 billion and
contributed over $2.5 billion to date  far more than any other nation.ÿ
  þ 

    In accordance with the original PEPFAR law, the bill has a 33 percent
    funding cap on contributions to the Global Fund, ensuring that for
    every $1 the United States provides, the rest of the world will
    contribute at least $2.ÿ The bill also includes important new
    benchmarks for the Global Fund on transparency and accountability, as
    well as penalties if they are not met.

PEPFAR Partnerships Are Turning The Tide Against Global HIV/AIDS

As of the end of March 2008, PEPFAR was supporting life-saving
antiretroviral treatment for more than 1.6 million people living with
HIV/AIDS in the 15 focus countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and the
Caribbean.ÿWhen the President announced PEPFAR in 2003, only 50,000 people
in all of sub-Saharan Africa were receiving treatment.

PEPFAR is partnering with local communities and indigenous organizations,
including faith- and community-based organizations to support treatment,
care, and prevention activities.ÿ Last year, 87 percent of PEPFAR partners
were indigenous organizations, and nearly a quarter were faith-based.ÿ
PEPFAR has also:
  þ Supported more than 33 million counseling and testing sessions for men,
    women, and children.ÿ
  þ Supported care for more than 6.6 million individuals, including care
    for more than 2.7 million orphans and vulnerable children.
  þ Supported prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission interventions
    for women during nearly 12.7 million pregnancies from Fiscal Year 2004
    to Fiscal Year 2007.
  þ Supported prevention of an estimated 194,000 infant infections.

As a result of President and Mrs. Bush's leadership, in June 2007 the
United States and other G-8 nations set a goal of supporting treatment for
a total of five million HIV/AIDS-infected individuals, preventing 24
million new infections, and caring for 24 million people, including 10
million orphans and vulnerable children.

ÿ

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