Some HIV advocates had hoped U.S. President Joe Biden would give more than just a mention to the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, during his annual address before Congress this week. For example, a boost in funding.
Also in today’s edition: French President Emmanuel Macron may have just sounded the death knell for a major international agreement, and one NGO points a finger at U.K. aid cuts for cholera’s rapid spread in Malawi.
Known as PEPFAR, the emergency plan for AIDS relief turned 20 a couple of weeks ago. Former President George W. Bush’s launch of the initiative during his 2003 State of the Union address was a game changer for the fight to address the global HIV and AIDS epidemic — one that some even reckon was his true legacy, overshadowed by the war in Iraq and that time he said “Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job.”
About the author
Helen Murphy
Helen is an award-winning journalist and Senior Editor at Devex, where she edits coverage on global development in the Americas. Based in Colombia, she previously covered war, politics, financial markets, and general news for Reuters, where she headed the bureau, and for Bloomberg in Colombia and Argentina, where she witnessed the financial meltdown. She started her career in London as a reporter for Euromoney Publications before moving to Hong Kong to work for a daily newspaper.
