Five million children, women, and men in Africa, have received anti-retroviral treatment under PEPFAR. In 2010 alone, 600,000 pregnant mothers received treatment so their newborn children would not be infected with HIV. These, millions of people live productive, healthy lives due to George W. Bush, the Younger.
In his 2003 State of the Union Address, Bush, the Younger introduced his “President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief” (PEPFAR.) That proposal provided : $15 billion over five years to combat HIV in Africa, and also addressed serious African health problems beyond HIV/AIDS.
Bush the younger not only proposed PEPFAR, but even as the Iraq war persisted, spent precious political capital to get his plan enacted. The result was the largest upfront contribution ever made by any country to fight HIV in Africa.
This past winter, the National Academy of Science did an evaluation of President Bush’s PEPFAR. It said:
“Overall, PEPFAR has reset the world’s expectations for what can be accomplished with ambitious goals, ample funding, and humanitarian commitment to a public health crisis…”
“Working with a wide range of international and local partners, PEPFAR has expanded HIV testing and increased the number of people living with HIV who are receiving care and being treated with anti-retroviral drugs.”
“The initiative has trained hundreds of thousands of service providers, strengthened partner countries’ health systems, provided additional nonclinical support services for people living with HIV, and made an unprecedented investment in programs for orphans and vulnerable children living with or affected by HIV.”