Co-Chairs Join Bipartisan, Bicameral Letter Calling for New Global AIDS Treatment Goal

Nov 18, 2013 Issues: Foreign Affairs, Health
 
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 14, 2013
Contact: Carrie Adams (Lee) (202) 225-2661
John Hart (Coburn) 202-228-5357

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) and U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK), along with 38 other lawmakers, sent a letter to President Obama calling on the Administration to announce a doubling of the number of people on treatment through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) during the Fourth Replenishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria scheduled to take place in Washington, D.C., in December.

“We applaud the Administration’s achievement of increasing the number of people on treatment supported by PEPFAR to 6 million, and the recent announcement of 1 million babies globally born HIV-free thanks to PEPFAR support,” they write.  “To build on this success, we urge you to set a new, bold PEPFAR goal of 12 million people on treatment by the end of fiscal year 2016…. At this critical juncture, scaling up to capitalize on scientific advances, while expanding deployment of proven-effective prevention tools that are already available to us, will not only save millions of lives but will also significantly reduce human suffering, new HIV infections, and healthcare costs in the years to come.”

PEPFAR, a bipartisan program established in 2003, has treated and cared for millions of individuals facing HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria across the world.

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Congresswoman Lee has been a leader in the fight against the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. She co-authored legislation signed into law creating the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria in 2000, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in 2003, the PEPFAR Reauthorization Act in 2008, and in 2005 legislation addressing the needs of orphans and vulnerable children affected by HIV/AIDS. She has also been a leader in the effort to establish a National AIDS Strategy, and is a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health, Human Services & Education with jurisdiction over all domestic HIV/AIDS funding. She is the only United States representative on United Nations Development Programme’s Global Commission on HIV and the Law and was the original sponsor of legislation that lead to the repeal of the Immigration and Travel ban that barred the entry of HIV positive individuals. The repeal allowed the International AIDS conference to take place in July 2012 in Washington, D.C., which was held in the U.S. after 20 years. Congresswoman Lee serves as a Representative from the United States to the 68th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

The full letter is below: 

November 13, 2013

The President

The White House

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

We write to you in anticipation of World AIDS Day and thank you for your decision to host the Fourth Replenishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria scheduled to take place in Washington, D.C., in December.  For a decade, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has inarguably been one of our nation’s most significant foreign policy achievements.  This unprecedented humanitarian effort has touched millions, either through providing life-saving HIV/AIDS treatment, slowing the spread of the disease in areas hardest hit by AIDS, keeping together families impacted by the disease, caring for orphans, or improving the lives of others affected and infected by HIV/AIDS as well as tuberculosis and malaria.  As a bipartisan program, PEPFAR also has generated significant goodwill towards the U.S. around the world. 

With the hard work of PEPFAR and other international organizations and governments committed to fighting AIDS, the world stands on the cusp of a key moment: to reach a “tipping point” in which more people are being added to treatment than are being newly infected, a critical step towards achieving an AIDS-free generation.  We applaud the Administration’s achievement of increasing the number of people on treatment supported by PEPFAR to 6 million, and the recent announcement of 1 million babies globally born HIV-free thanks to PEPFAR support.  Additionally, the PEPFAR Blueprint shows how expanded delivery of proven interventions will yield falling HIV incidence and mortality rates within a few years.

To build on this success, we urge you to set a new, bold PEPFAR goal of 12 million people on treatment by the end of fiscal year 2016.  As PEPFAR embarks on the next crucial phase of implementation, we believe a renewed goal will invigorate partners and keep the program on track to continue its life-saving mission.  Evidence to support a strong role for treatment in PEPFAR has never been more abundant.  The science of the HPTN 052 study continues to be a roadmap for how to end the epidemic, and success on the ground reinforces that work.  PEPFAR’s own analysis shows that countries such as Kenya and Uganda could significantly accelerate the decline in HIV incidence with earlier initiation of HIV treatment in combination with other effective interventions.   In 2011, PEPFAR’s Scientific Advisory Board called for historic scale-up, envisioning 90 percent coverage of all individuals in need of treatment.   International organizations have also embraced the important role of treatment, including the World Health Organization (WHO) which recently called for treatment for patients with CD4 cell count levels below 500 cells/mm3 as well as all serodiscordant couples and children under age five regardless of CD4 levels.  Finally, as part of this goal, PEPFAR must also ensure that its country programs are allocating the necessary funds to treatment on an annual basis.  As shown in the Blueprint, treatment is one of the two leading drivers of decreases in new HIV infections, and combined with its lifesaving effects, we would expect that the proportion of PEPFAR, partner country, and other stakeholder budgets devoted to treatment would increase on an annual basis. 

We also urge you to work diligently toward the international goal of virtually ending the transmission of HIV to newborns of pregnant mothers by 2015.  Prevention of new transmission to newborns requires full antiretroviral lifetime therapy for pregnant mothers, thus, this aim is inextricably linked with our call for a strong PEPFAR treatment goal.  Congress previously established a goal for PEPFAR to achieve 80 percent access to prevention of mother to child transmission services by 2013, and updated WHO treatment guidelines now recommend pregnant women living with HIV begin treatment as soon as diagnosed, regardless of CD4 count, and to continue antiretroviral treatment for life.  Full scale-up is now within reach and will profoundly impact the future of developing nations, who will have their first AIDS-free generations after decades of suffering.  Stakeholders worldwide have united around this vision, and PEPFAR’s leadership is an essential component to its success. 

PEPFAR continues to lead the international response to HIV/AIDS, yet success in ending the AIDS epidemic remains a global responsibility.  As such, hosting the Global Fund Replenishment Conference in the U.S. sends a strong signal to other donor countries about the importance of investing in the Global Fund.  It also presents an important opportunity to renew and extend U.S. support while challenging other nations to strengthen the overall response.  By continuing to support multilateral efforts, and by setting a new goal, the United States would send an important signal of our nation’s continued commitment to ending the epidemic, and leverage the new goal to increase multilateral buy-in and synergy. 

Every American should be proud of the success of PEPFAR as it represents what is great about our nation and has restored hope for so many.  At this critical juncture, scaling up to capitalize on scientific advances, while expanding deployment of proven-effective prevention tools that are already available to us, will not only save millions of lives but will also significantly reduce human suffering, new HIV infections, and healthcare costs in the years to come.

Congress has an important role to play in continuing to support and shape the global AIDS response.  We stand ready to support your efforts and look forward to working with you to build on the success of PEPFAR and to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic. 

Sincerely,

__________________                                                    ______________________

TOM A. COBURN, M.D.                                                      BARBARA LEE 

United States Senate                                                              Member of Congress

______________________                                                    ______________________

BOB CORKER                                                                      ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN 

United States Senate                                                              Member of Congress

_____________________                                                      ______________________

CHRISTOPHER COONS                                                     JOHN CONYERS, JR. 

United States Senate                                                              Member of Congress

______________________                                                    ______________________

MARCO RUBIO                                                                   MARK MEADOWS 

United States Senate                                                              Member of Congress

______________________                                                    ______________________

CHRISTOPHER MURPHY                                                  JIM MCDERMOTT

United States Senate                                                              Member of Congress

____________________                                                        ______________________

JOHN McCAIN                                                                     KAREN BASS 

United States Senate                                                              Member of Congress

______________________                                                    ______________________

MICHAEL B. ENZI                                                              SANDY LEVIN

United States Senate                                                              Member of Congress

______________________                                                    ______________________

CHARLES SCHUMER                                                         CHAKA FATTAH

United States Senate                                                              Member of Congress

______________________                                                    ______________________

LAMAR ALEXANDER                                                       ROBERT BRADY 

United States Senate                                                              Member of Congress

______________________                                                    ______________________

RICHARD BURR                                                                 MICHAEL E. CAPUANO 

United States Senate                                                              Member of Congress

_____________________                                                      ______________________

JOHNNY ISAKSON                                                             ALLYSON SCHWARTZ

United States Senate                                                              Member of Congress

______________________                                                    ______________________

BERNARD SANDERS                                                         DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ

United States Senate                                                              Member of Congress

______________________                                                    ______________________

SHERROD BROWN                                                             CHARLES RANGEL

United States Senate                                                              Member of Congress

____________________                                                        ______________________

MARK UDALL                                                                     KIRSTEN E. GILLIBRAND           

United States Senate                                                              United States Senate

______________________                                                    ______________________

JOHN BOOZMAN                                                                KELLY A. AYOTTE

United States Senate                                                              United States Senate

____________________                                                        ______________________

ANGUS KING, JR.                                                               TAMMY BALDWIN                                   

United States Senate                                                              United States Senate

______________________                                                    ______________________

TED DEUTCH                                                                       PETER WELCH                               

Member of Congress                                                               Member of Congress

______________________                                                    ______________________

ELIZABETH WARREN                                                       JOHN SARBANES              

United States Senate                                                              Member of Congress

_____________________                                                      ______________________

SHELDON WHITEHOUSE                                                 TED YOHO                          

United States Senate                                                              Member of Congress

______________________                                                    ______________________

THAD COCHRAN                                                                MAXINE WATERS                         

United States Senate                                                              Member of Congress

 

 

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