AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), which provides AIDS care and treatment services to more than 166,000 individuals in 26 countries worldwide, lauded the U.S. House of Representatives for budgeting $193 million more to global AIDS programs in the 2013 Foreign Operations & Appropriations Bill than President Obama proposed. Despite a 5%, or $2 billion, reduction in overall foreign operations spending from the Fiscal Year 2012 Appropriations Bill, the House budget would maintain current levels of funding. This is in stark contrast to the Administration’s unprecedented request for a reduction in global AIDS funding.

“AHF would like to thank Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX) for her continuing leadership on this issue, and Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) for showing that a strong response to the global AIDS epidemic has strong bipartisan support. In this House bill, funding for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief remains at its 2012 level, while under President Obama’s proposed budget, funding and total expenditures for PEPFAR would be reduced, meaning fewer people on treatment and fewer lives saved,” said Tom Myers, AHF’s Chief of Public Affairs, noting that Rep. Granger is the Chair of the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, and Rep. Lowey is the ranking Member of the Subcommittee. “The Subcommittee understands that we cannot achieve the goal of an ‘AIDS-free generation’ by cutting global AIDS funding. We are grateful to those legislators working to maintain a priority on AIDS care and treatment programs like PEPFAR, particularly after numerous studies have shown that treatment is the key to controlling the epidemic. And for Congress to do so at a time when the overall Foreign Appropriations budget was cut by over two billion dollars demonstrates an even more impressive commitment to fighting AIDS.”

Foreign Operations & Appropriations Funding—FY 2012 vs. FY 2013

Following is a snapshot of year-over-year funding levels proposed by Congress and the Administration:

1. Total FY2012 enacted, for both bilateral PEPFAR and Global Fund, $5.543 billion; with PEPFAR accounting for $4.243 billion, and Global Fund at $1.3 billion;
2. President Obama’s proposed FY 2013 funding for both programs is $5.35 billion; $3.7 billion for bilateral PEPFAR funding and $1.650 billion for the Global Fund;
3. The House FY2013 appropriation is $5.543 billion, in the same proportion as FY2012 enacted. The House bill provides:
   1. $4,242,860,000 for the bilateral programs, PEPFAR
   2. $1,300,000,000 for the Global Fund
   3. $5,542,860,000 TOTAL, which is the same as the FY2012 level and $192,860,000 above the President’s budget request.

PEPFAR was the result of President Bush’s groundbreaking 2003 State of the Union pledge to bring two million HIV positive Africans and others into treatment and prevent seven million new HIV infections via a five-year, $15 billion US-funded program. It currently operates in 15 focus countries and claims to support antiretroviral treatment for 1.4 million people worldwide. PEPFAR has been one of the most successful global humanitarian programs in recent memory, providing medical care to millions of people with HIV/AIDS, it has given hope to the 33 million people with HIV/AIDS in the world.

About AHF

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is the nation’s largest non-profit HIV/AIDS healthcare provider. AHF currently provides medical care and/or services to more than 166,000 individuals in 26 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean Eastern Europe and Asia. Additional information is available at www.aidshealth.org