Plan Would Sacrifice Over 1 Million African Lives to AIDS;
Is Life Cheap to Hal Rogers and Republican House Leaders?
 

February 14, 2011
Contact: Matthew Kavanagh, 202-4862488 or matthew@healthgap.org

Washington, DC:  On Friday, House Appropriations Chair Hal Rogers released a budget trumpeting some of the largest spending cuts in history.  These include $1.5 billion less than the President requested for Global Health, and compared to last year over $813.3 million cut from global AIDS programs. Efforts launched by President Bush to fight AIDS in Africa were slashed—a stunning reversal for Republican leadership. Luckily the plan is unlikely to pass in current form.

These cuts would translate into the death of over 1 million people around the world who rely on access to lifesaving medicines through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Cuts to the Global Fund alone would result in:    

• 483,000 people likely to die without AIDS treatment
  
• 68,000 babies born with HIV because their mothers didn’t receive prevention drugs
  
• 12 million families without bed-nets to prevent malaria and 434,000 people will risk death without TB treatment.

PLUS cuts to the PEPFAR program would mean a halt and reversal of treatment scale up which, based on last year, would likely mean:

• 400,000 people will not be eligible for life-saving treatment
• 500,000 people will lose access to care, including 300,000 orphans
• 100,000 fewer HIV+ pregnant women getting preventative care
• 20,000 people becoming infected with HIV who otherwise wouldn't have
  

“Nobody voted this year for a Republican plan to sacrifice over one million lives in Africa. President Bush and the Republicans created PEPFAR to protect our national security and to support a bold commitment to life.

Chairman Rogers would jettison this commitment—preferring malicious cuts that will cost the lives of some of the poorest people on the planet. U.S. global AIDS programs provide economic stability around the world and ensure security. We hope the full House and the Senate will reject this radically anti-life, anti-security proposal,” said Matthew Kavanagh, Director of US Advocacy for Health GAP.

The Proposed Continuing Resolution on the State and Foreign Operations budget include:

• $1.5 billion less than the President requested for global health and $525 million less for the Global Fund than the House bills that weren't completed last year.
  

Including specifically:

• $513.3million cut compared to 2010 to global AIDS programs and $150 million less to the Global Fund
  
• In addition, the CR proposal also slashes funds to the Health and Human Services Budget, including $300 million to the Global Fund.

Source notes:  Estimates of service delivery area based on an analysis of previous and likely outcomes. Sources include: The Global Fund to Fight AIDS Tuberculosis and Malaria. Replenishment 2011--2013. Resource scenarios 2011-2013 and President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief,  Sixth Annual Report to Congress on PEPFAR (2010)

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