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US To Extend Global AIDS Program

A late-night compromise on Tuesday led to the verbal vote on Wednesday that gives approval to the US Foreign Affairs Committee to extend US funding of the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which was enacted in 2003 to provide care and prevention programs to regions around the world that are in crisis from an ever-growing epidemic of the disease.

Six thousand people every day are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, with many of these cases occurring in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean. Programs in these locations and others already receiving US assistance can expect an average of $10 billion for each of the next five years.

Bipartisan controversy in the House of Representatives has stalled the conclusion of the issue as Republicans and Democrats haggled over the details of the program, considered by some to be the most successful program of foreign policy the US has undertaken in many years.

One of the controversial issues of the extension negotiations was for family planning, which the Democrats favored but the Republicans opposed on the grounds that family planning might lead to US-funded abortions. Accepted family planning measures are to encourage abstinence while providing contraceptives, such as birth control pills.

The program thus far has delivered HIV-fighting drugs to 1.4 million people and additional care to 6.7 million people, 2.7 million of them orphaned children. Treatment for malaria and tuberculosis is included in the extension program.

Assistant Clinical Professor Josh Ruxin, of Columbia University, has called for an expansion of services to include improved training of personnel and upgrades to healthcare facilities, including running water and electricity where needed, so the programs can provide a higher quality of care. Ruxin lives in Rwanda, where he serves as director of the Access Project, one of the programs receiving US funding.

All organizations receiving funds must agree to officially oppose sex trafficking and prostitution.

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