Over the past two decades, the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, has helped save 26 million lives and become the largest international donor to the global HIV and AIDS response.
But it was never meant to run forever.
In recent months, U.S. government funding cuts posed a real existential threat to the program. PEPFAR-funded activities have been massively limited, leading to a public outcry. A New York Times report also exposed a State Department plan to shut the program down in the coming years. The plan is under discussion, but experts Devex spoke to said it’s far from final.