In an editorial in the Washington Post today, the editors identify a key area of failing of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief: prevention. While PEPFAR is responsible for a major scale-up of treatment, prevention efforts have not been successful because of unnecessary, politially-motivated restrictions such as abstinence-only programs and the siloing of global health programs to treat each health problem as a seperate and distinct problem
Thank god then, that President Obama called on Congress today to fund all global health programs in a broader, more comprehensive plan to tackle the complex and intersecting global health issues, such as TB, family planning and HIV, saying:
The actual funding levels of $63 billion over six years are controversial however, $63 billion breaks down to 51 billion for AIDS, TB and Malaria, and $12 billion for other global health. This angers many AIDS activists because it means that for PEPFAR there is 51 billion over 6 years instead of 48 billion over 5. This also is being seen as many as not enough. But many are praising Obama for shifting the US approach to a more comprehensive one.We cannot simply confront individual preventable illnesses in isolation. The world is interconnected, and that demands and integrated approach to global health