When the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief launched 12 years ago, it managed to galvanize rapid support, to the tune of $15 billion dollars over five years. The word “emergency” in the program’s title broadcast an unambiguous signal about the scale of the global health challenge.
Now that the world has made massive progress in the fight against HIV and AIDS, does that sense of urgency still exist? Should it?
Devex spoke with Ambassador Deborah Birx, the U.S. global AIDS coordinator who directs PEPFAR, the largest-ever commitment by any country to combat a single disease. The global development community has a choice to make between two possible futures, Birx told Devex. Whether we choose the one without over 2 million AIDS-related deaths per year will depend in part on the sense of urgency with which we treat the ongoing HIV and AIDS challenge.