U.S. President Barack Obama’s decision to integrate the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief under the Global Health Initiative will not compromise the core goals of the plan, even as the current administration pushes to transform it from an emergency program to a sustainable initiative, the U.S. global AIDS coordinator said in a recent House hearing.
“As PEPFAR now moves from an emergency to a sustainable response as part of the President’s GHI, make no mistake: we will maintain and support expansion of these core prevention, care, and treatment services that are at the heart of the program,” Eric Goosby told members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee during a Sept. 29 hearing that explored advances made by PEPFAR and issues concerning its integration into GHI.
Goosby explained that part of Obama’s commitments under GHI are PEPFAR goals, including directly supporting the treatment of at least 4 million people and preventing at least 12 million new infections.
The official also addressed concerns that GHI will limit PEPFAR’s reach and diffuse its focus, explaining that GHI would instead complement PEPFAR. He added that GHI is critical to the plan’s future success.
“Building additional services onto the PEPFAR platform – such as maternal and child health, tuberculosis, and nutrition support – not only expands the ability to provide care without building additional infrastructure, but also helps to create a basic package of health care services,” Goosby said.
“Troubling” reorientation
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the committee’s ranking Republican member, said during the hearing that PEPFAR has lost its focus and expressed doubts on the effectiveness of reorienting it from an emergency initiative to a sustainable program.
“The apparent preference to reorient PEPFAR toward the same old ambiguous, inefficient and ineffective development programs that have failed for the past 20 years is troubling,” Ros-Lehtinen noted.
The ranking Republican also slammed “the inclination of some” to press for a direct increase in the amount of U.S. aid to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The Global Fund is faced with structural challenges that need to be addressed before the U.S. continues supporting it, Ros-Lehtinen argued.
