Health Action AIDS

PEPFAR 1 Primer

The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is the US HIV/AIDS program, including bilateral programs in more than 100 countries, with a particular emphasis on 15 focus countries. There are 12 focus countries in Africa as well as Haiti, Vietnam, and Guyana. PEPFAR also includes multilateral contributions through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.  It is primarily geared toward saving the lives of those already infected with HIV by providing antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, while also supporting prevention and care efforts. This emphasis on treatment was requested by AIDS activists when PEPFAR was being developed.

PEPFAR has helped provide treatment for 1.1 million people since its inception, in conjunction with the Global Fund and other programs. The plan was established in the wake of a wave of global treatment AIDS activism initiated and led by Health GAP, ACT UP, and MSF, in coalition. PEPFAR was spearheaded within the Bush administration by Anthony S. Fauci, MD, the politically savvy AIDS researcher who heads the powerful NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Paul Farmer and Jim Kim were early proponents of the plan.  (UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has said that this activism also provided the political momentum he needed to announce the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, which preceded PEPFAR).

Current PEPFAR Budget: In the most recently completed continuing resolution, total funding for bilateral AIDS (including research) and TB, along with the Global Fund, totals $4.5 billion for FY07, including $724 million for the Global Fund.

The current PEPFAR legislation expires: September 30, 2008.

PEPFAR reauthorization is spearheaded at the White House by Ambassador Mark Dybul, MD, US Global AIDS Coordinator.