Africa Action Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Michael Swigert (202) 546-7961
Senate Passage of AIDS, TB and Malaria Bill An Important Step Forward
Africa Action Lauds PEPFAR Improvement, Calls for More Action to Address Africa’s Debt Burden
Friday, July 18, 2008 (Washington, DC) – Wednesday evening, the U.S. Senate voted to reauthorize the President’s
Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) with an overwhelming 80-16 majority. Africa Action commends the tireless work of
the global health activists and leaders in the Senate who overcame a series of last-minute objections to get the bill
passed, but notes that more still needs to be done to address the AIDS crisis in Africa.
“This bill is a tremendous improvement over the previous U.S. global HIV/AIDS initiative,” said Michael Swigert, Africa
Action’s Associate Director for Policy and Communications. “It authorizes a more sustainable and holistic approach to
the crisis by expanding efforts to train health care workers and address malaria and tuberculosis, the biggest
infectious killer of people living with HIV. It increases the program’s emphasis on women, who bear the brunt of the
AIDS burden in Africa. It also repeals the disgraceful law that restricts the entrance of people living with HIV to the
United States. More work is needed, however, to improve U.S. global HIV prevention policies. This legislation fails to
integrate family planning with HIV programs, which public health experts agree is most effective. The bill also reduces,
but does not fully remove, ideologically driven restrictions on comprehensive, evidence-driven prevention programs.”
While the most recent UNAIDS statistics indicated that worldwide, HIV prevalence appears to be leveling off, sub-Saharan
Africa remains the pandemic’s epicenter. There were 1.7 million new infections in the region in 2007. AIDS is still the
single greatest cause of death in Africa, where more than two-thirds of all people living with HIV live and over
three-quarters of global AIDS-related deaths took place in 2007. This is due both to a lack of accessible treatment and
to the weak overall health care infrastructure of African countries. Statements by leaders of the richest countries at
the G8 Summit earlier this month are a far cry from the bold and decisive response needed to stop this global pandemic.
Leaders said only that they will “work toward” increasing health workforce capacities in African countries to meet World
Health Organization minimum standards.
“We can all celebrate a hard won victory with the passage of this bill; our determined advocacy paid off,” said Briggs
Bomba, Africa Action’s Associate Director for Campaigns. “However, we cannot lose sight of the broader global context of
the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa. The growth of African health care systems continues to be held back by the chains of an
illegitimate external debt burden and harmful economic conditions attached to development loans. Complete cancellation
of the external debts owed by African countries is vital to long-term progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS. To
maximize the impact of this reauthorized and improved program, the U.S. Senate should follow this bill by passing the
Jubilee Act for Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt Cancellation (S2166).”
ends