26 November 2019
GENEVA – The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria applauded strong leadership by the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR, which announced its latest results showing 18 million lives saved through accountable, transparent and cost-effective investments.
PEPFAR works closely with the Global Fund and other partners in global efforts against the HIV epidemic, and its results demonstrate pathbreaking progress with extra effort on reaching key populations affected by HIV.
Announcing PEPFAR’s results, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Deborah L. Birx drew attention to progress achieved by DREAMS – which stands for Determined Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored, and Safe young women – and favors structural interventions that need to occur at the country and community level to ensure young women can remain HIV-free.
PEPFAR said that new HIV diagnoses among adolescent girls and young women have declined by 25 percent or more in nearly all of the intervention regions implementing DREAMS across 10 high-burden African countries.
“PEPFAR is achieving great results, and we’re working together to put the ‘U’ into ‘UHC’, by ensuring countries’ plans for universal health coverage really include everyone, especially the most vulnerable,” said Peter Sands, Executive Director of the Global Fund. “Too many people are still affected by HIV, and the only way to end the epidemic is to reach everyone who needs treatment, prevention and care.”
PEPFAR’s announcement came just prior to World AIDS Day, celebrated on 1 December in remembrance of the people that have died of AIDS, one of the largest continuous pandemics in history.