A Report on the Negative Impact of Global Backtracking on AIDS Commitment and Funding
"Governments, North and South, cannot afford to put the clock back and return us to the days when HIV was a death sentence,"
-Aditi Sharma, ITPC Coordinator
A recent report by the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition documents the progress in providing access to HIV/AIDS treatment in six countries: India, Kenya, Latvia, Malawi, Swaziland and Venezuela. The report also shares the challenges these countries face in increasing and sustaining treatment programs.
The report shows early warning signs of the negative impact of the global backtracking on AIDS commitment and funding. If the trend of global backtracking continues, the result will be suffering and death for millions of people around the world currently living with HIV. The report adds more evidence that government budget cuts to HIV/AIDS program and flatlined funding from major donors (PEPFAR and Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria) are beginning to have an impact on developing countries' ability to treat HIV patients. For more information read the Reuters article and the full report.
Additionally, the "One" campaign against global poverty reports that Senator Kent Conrad wants to cut $4 billion from the International Affairs budget. Cutting the International Affairs budget means directly attacking the Obama administration's ability to respond to the most serious security challenge facing the United States, especially, providing life-saving treatment for people with HIV/AIDS. For more information read this Foreign Policy post and a press release from Global AIDS Alliance.
One piece of legislation, the Global HEALTH Act, addresses our responsibility to provide treatment for millions suffering from HIV and a proposed currency transaction levy provides the financing to do so.
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