Lee Commends Administration for New PEPFAR Blueprint
Contact: Katherine Jolly, 510-763-0370
Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA), a founding co-chair of the Congressional HIV/AIDS Caucus, issued the following statement regarding today's launch of the Obama Administration’s AIDS Free Generation Blueprint:
“I applaud Secretary Clinton, Ambassador Goosby and the Obama Administration for their commitment to achieving an AIDS-free generation. As we mark World AIDS Day on December 1, the Blueprint provides an important roadmap in our renewed efforts to transform the international response to this epidemic and accelerate progress toward making the end of AIDS the legacy of our generation.”
“The successful efforts of the bipartisan PEPFAR program and the international efforts thru the Global Fund, coupled with remarkable breakthroughs in scientific research in recent years have brought us to important crossroads. Now more than ever, a roadmap to rapidly scale-up effective evidence-based interventions can truly begin to put us on a path to achieving an AIDS-free generation and lead other nations and donors in this collective effort.”
On July 18th, Congresswoman Lee introduced H.R. 6138, Ending the HIV/AIDS Epidemic Act of 2012, which articulated a policy and financing framework to achieve an AIDS-Free Generation in the United States and globally. The bill increases and targets federal resources to maximize impact of HIV efforts, expands efforts to end stigma and discrimination, repeals and reforms laws that violate human rights and undermine the positive impact of resources, and maximizes federal coordinating efforts to drive greater efficiency and improved results in all HIV and related programs.
Click here to read the blueprint.
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 in Washington DC in July of 2102.
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