U.S President Barrack Obama is under pressure now especially that the 25th annual World AIDS Day is drawing near. Lawmakers urge him to announce his new goals to make the HIV/AIDS program more effective.
A group of 40 lawmakers led by Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma wrote a letter to Obama to find out his next steps for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
The program is a commitment made by the U.S government to fight the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. It aims to provide antiretroviral treatment to about 2 million people from 15 resource-limited countries, to prevent 7 million new infections, and support care for 10 million people by 2010. The program began with 40,000 beneficiaries in 2004 and increased it to 1.2 million in 2008. Former Pres. George Bush allocated a $5.4 billion budget in 2008 for the program. The program was proven successful as it was able to prevent 1.2 million deaths in Africa or a reduction of 10 percent on the death rate.
When the administration was turned over to Obama, he continued the PEPFAR program with new initiatives and some changes. He allocated 20 percent of the budget to prevention and the rest of it to care and treatment, infrastructure, training, and other services. They also improved the treatment coverage of PEPFAR by extending it to the complications related to HIV/AIDS such as malaria, tuberculosis, and other infections.
The letter from the lawmakers is requesting to increase the number of beneficiaries of the program. From 1.2 million, they are requesting to up it to 12 million. According to the letter, it "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."
These lawmakers and the activists hope to hear Obama’s new plans on the upcoming Washington conference which will discuss the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
The Obama administration has already pledged $1.65 billion for the 2014 global funds but activists are expecting at least $5 billion. It also planned to increase the coverage to 6 million beneficiaries which is obviously lower than the expected number of the lawmakers.
"The decisions that get made now will set the stage for the entirety of the Obama administration," said Tom Myers, general counsel for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, told USA Today. "If come 2017, we live in a world where the number of people with HIV/AIDS is still increasing—given what we know can be done—that will not be a great legacy."
Let’s wait what Obama has to say next week. Will he give in to the pressure or will stick to his original plan? Do you think the lawmakers and activists are being reasonable with their expectations?
