Congresswoman Barbara Lee and Senator Coburn Call for New AIDS Treatment Goal
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
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BOB CORKER ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN
United States Senate Member of Congress
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CHRISTOPHER COONS JOHN CONYERS, JR.
United States Senate Member of Congress
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MARCO RUBIO MARK MEADOWS
United States Senate Member of Congress
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CHRISTOPHER MURPHY JIM MCDERMOTT
United States Senate Member of Congress
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JOHN McCAIN KAREN BASS
United States Senate Member of Congress
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MICHAEL B. ENZI SANDY LEVIN
United States Senate Member of Congress
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CHARLES SCHUMER CHAKA FATTAH
United States Senate Member of Congress
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LAMAR ALEXANDER ROBERT BRADY
United States Senate Member of Congress
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RICHARD BURR MICHAEL E. CAPUANO
United States Senate Member of Congress
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JOHNNY ISAKSON ALLYSON SCHWARTZ
United States Senate Member of Congress
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BERNARD SANDERS DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ
United States Senate Member of Congress
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SHERROD BROWN CHARLES RANGEL
United States Senate Member of Congress
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MARK UDALL KIRSTEN E. GILLIBRAND
United States Senate United States Senate
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JOHN BOOZMAN KELLY A. AYOTTE
United States Senate United States Senate
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ANGUS KING, JR. TAMMY BALDWIN
United States Senate United States Senate
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TED DEUTCH PETER WELCH
Member of Congress Member of Congress
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ELIZABETH WARREN JOHN SARBANES
United States Senate Member of Congress
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SHELDON WHITEHOUSE TED YOHO
United States Senate Member of Congress
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THAD COCHRAN MAXINE WATERS
United States Senate Member of Congress
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