Catholic Relief Services (CRS) applauds the bipartisan compromise approved today by the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee that strengthens life-saving prevention, treatment and care to persons living with HIV and AIDS provided by the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
The bill approved by the Committee authorizes up to $50 billion for PEPFAR over the next five years. The Committee adopted two improvements sought by CRS. First, it expands linkages to food and nutrition to increase the effectiveness of treatment programs. The bill also provides resources to address the shortage of healthcare workers in countries with minimal healthcare systems.
In addition, the Committee bill also addresses two problems identified by CRS. It restores a balanced approach to HIV prevention that includes support for evidence-based abstinence and behavior change prevention programs. The bill also removes language in a previous draft that would have mandated the integration of family planning and reproductive health services into HIV prevention, care and treatment. Provisions in the draft bill would have effectively both excluded CRS and other religious organizations from participation in PEPFAR and reduced the effectiveness of prevention programs.
By fixing these deficiencies, the Committee ensured that hundreds of thousands of patients in the poorest, most remote regions of the world will not be denied the life-saving treatment provided by PEPFAR.
"The strong leadership and vision exhibited today puts the interests of those millions of people affected by HIV above partisan battles," says Bill O'Keefe, senior director for advocacy at CRS. "The Committee made great strides in affirming human life and dignity today. Plenty of work remains, however, to secure passage of this vital bill."
As the lead agency of the five-partner AIDSRelief consortium, which received the largest PEPFAR grant of $335 million, CRS has helped bring antiretroviral therapy to more than 100,000 people and other care and treatment services to another 250,000 people in 9 countries. CRS is also serving more than 56,000 orphans and vulnerable children affected by HIV through a $9 million, 5-year PEPFAR program in Botswana, Haiti, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia.
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Catholic Relief Services is the international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. The agency provides assistance to people in more than 100 countries and territories based on need, regardless of race, nationality or creed. For more information, please visit www.crs.org.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
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