The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which celebrated its 20th anniversary on January 28, has had an unprecedented impact in the fight once morest HIV and AIDS around the world since its inception in January 2003 . The following text appeared on the U.S. Department of State website to mark the anniversary of the plan on January 28, 2023.
Today, the President’s Emergency Response Plan for AIDS (PEPFAR) celebrates its 20th anniversary, an occasion to celebrate the fact that the fight once morest HIV and AIDS as a public health threat has saved 25 million lives.
On January 28, 2003, President George W. Bush announced the launch of PEPFAR in his State of the Union address, providing long-term HIV and AIDS research, coordinated humanitarian efforts, bipartisan support from Congress, and increased engagement by organizations in the municipalities, religious communities and the private sector. All in all, this resulted in an unprecedented campaign once morest a global health crisis.
dr John Nkengasong, global AIDS coordinator and special envoy for health diplomacy and US envoy at large, said: “Twenty years on from the launch of PEPFAR, we can say that it is having a remarkable impact. As we celebrate our successes, we must further strengthen our resolve to continue this fight together with our partner countries to ensure that the successes are sustainable. This sustainability will be instrumental in ending the HIV/AIDS pandemic as a public health threat by 2030.”
Before PEPFAR, this pandemic raged unchecked around the world, and being diagnosed with it was a death sentence for millions of people. The pandemic has had a particularly dramatic impact on children in sub-Saharan Africa, resulting in millions of babies being born with HIV and many others being orphaned by AIDS.
Twenty years later, PEPFAR is providing treatment and testing to nearly 65 million people and bringing life-saving antiretroviral therapy (ART) to more than 20 million men, women and children.
Building on the program’s enduring legacy, PEPFAR is reinvigorating the United States’ global response to end the HIV/AIDS pandemic by 2030 to create a healthier and safer world for all. As part of the new five-year strategy, “Delivering on the United States’ Promise to End the HIV/AIDS Pandemic by 2030,” PEPFAR is working and working with partners to close health equity gaps for children, adolescent girls and young women, and important population groups and at the same time to contain HIV and AIDS as a security threat in addition to other new health challenges worldwide.
After 20 years of remarkable achievements, PEPFAR’s work is not over. Through passionate collaboration and transformative partnerships, PEPFAR aims to end the injustices and fill gaps in services that have stood in the way of further progress so the program can move even closer to its goal of ending the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Original text: PEPFAR Celebrates 20 Years of Unprecedented Global Impact in the Fight to End HIV/AIDS
