Opinion A shining example of U.S. leadership is needlessly endangered
Opinion | PEPFAR is a shining success that Republicans should not undermine The Washington Post
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President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR): A Game Changer in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals
President George W. Bush could not have foreseen how successful the outcome would be when he told aides in 2002 he wanted a “game changer” to fight the scourge of HIV/AIDS in Africa and elsewhere. But that is what he accomplished with the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, which he launched in 2003. To date, it is credited with having saved more than 25 million lives.
So it now makes little sense that this impressive public health achievement is being disrupted by political wrangling on Capitol Hill. Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.), a longtime backer of PEPFAR, is threatening to block a five-year reauthorization to make a tangential point about abortion funding, and some conservative groups are vowing to count the issue in their scoring of members’ voting records — which means supporting the program could be used as a weapon against them at election time. The current authorization expires Sept. 30. A failure to reauthorize PEPFAR would not immediately curtail the provision of drugs and health-care services to those suffering from AIDS, but it would undermine the structure of what has been a signature U.S. foreign policy success. A short-term reauthorization — say, a year — is far from ideal.
The Impact of PEPFAR in Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals
PEPFAR has spent more than $100 billion to fight AIDS across more than 50 countries. It has enjoyed broad bipartisan support in Congress. According to KFF, a health policy organization, PEPFAR is the largest global health program devoted to a single disease, and it helped change the trajectory of the HIV epidemic. In a report last September, the program said it had supported antiretroviral treatment for 20.1 million people; enabled 5.5 million babies to be born HIV-free to mothers living with HIV; provided critical care and support for 7 million orphans, vulnerable children and their caregivers; and helped train 340,000 health-care workers to deliver and improve HIV care and other health services. And there is more.
Also significant: PEPFAR is a banner for benevolent U.S. global leadership, like the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program that extended a helping hand to others abroad in a time of trouble and uncertainty.
Mr. Smith, who chairs a key foreign affairs panel overseeing PEPFAR, sent a letter to colleagues in Congress on June 6 complaining that President Biden has “hijacked” PEPFAR “to promote abortion on demand” through what he calls “bad actor nongovernment organizations” that provide abortion services. Although PEPFAR is barred by U.S. law from supporting abortion, some organizations working with PEPFAR provide abortion services backed by separate funding from other sources. Mr. Smith is seeking restoration of the GOP’s “Mexico City policy,” which would bar foreign organizations that receive U.S. funding from supporting abortion access. Mr. Smith’s letter effectively froze progress on the reauthorization, The Post’s Dan Diamond reported.
Mr. Smith surely can find another venue or legislative vehicle to fight the abortion battle. PEPFAR should not be disrupted by such politicking. Congress shares in the bipartisan credit for making PEPFAR a success story and should not now undo the progress it has achieved.
SDGs, Targets, and Indicators in the Article
1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?
- SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
- SDG 5: Gender Equality
- SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals
2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?
- SDG 3.3: By 2030, end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases, and other communicable diseases.
- SDG 5.6: Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences.
- SDG 17.16: Enhance the global partnership for sustainable development, complemented by multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilize and share knowledge, expertise, technology, and financial resources to support the achievement of the sustainable development goals in all countries, in particular developing countries.
3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?
- Number of lives saved from HIV/AIDS (mentioned in the article)
- Number of people receiving antiretroviral treatment (mentioned in the article)
- Number of babies born HIV-free to mothers living with HIV (mentioned in the article)
- Number of orphans, vulnerable children, and caregivers receiving critical care and support (mentioned in the article)
- Number of health-care workers trained to deliver and improve HIV care and other health services (mentioned in the article)
Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators
| SDGs | Targets | Indicators |
|---|---|---|
| SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being | 3.3: By 2030, end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases, and other communicable diseases. | – Number of lives saved from HIV/AIDS – Number of people receiving antiretroviral treatment – Number of babies born HIV-free to mothers living with HIV – Number of orphans, vulnerable children, and caregivers receiving critical care and support – Number of health-care workers trained to deliver and improve HIV care and other health services |
| SDG 5: Gender Equality | 5.6: Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences. | – Number of lives saved from HIV/AIDS (including access to sexual and reproductive health services) – Number of people receiving antiretroviral treatment (including access to sexual and reproductive health services) – Number of babies born HIV-free to mothers living with HIV (including access to sexual and reproductive health services) |
| SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals | 17.16: Enhance the global partnership for sustainable development, complemented by multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilize and share knowledge, expertise, technology, and financial resources to support the achievement of the sustainable development goals in all countries, in particular developing countries. | – Number of lives saved from HIV/AIDS (indicating successful partnerships) – Number of people receiving antiretroviral treatment (indicating successful partnerships) – Number of babies born HIV-free to mothers living with HIV (indicating successful partnerships) – Number of orphans, vulnerable children, and caregivers receiving critical care and support (indicating successful partnerships) – Number of health-care workers trained to deliver and improve HIV care and other health services (indicating successful partnerships) |
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Source: washingtonpost.com
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