Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns was among over thirty civil society and faith organizations calling on members of the Senate and House committees on foreign affairs to pass a "clean" five-year renewal of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Read letters to House and Senate committees as a PDF.
Dear Chairman/Ranking Member,
With your leadership and a clean, five-year reauthorization of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), we can end HIV/AIDS as a public health threat by the year 2030. Having made extraordinary progress, we urge you to press forward toward this compelling goal, which offers help and hope to the millions of God’s children whose lives and futures are still at risk.
Since the creation of PEPFAR we have achieved results that were at one time unimaginable:
- More than 25 million lives saved,
- Over 2.1 million people receiving antiretroviral treatment,
- 5.5 million babies born HIV-free,
- 64.7 million HIV/AIDS tests administered, and
- 7 million orphans and vulnerable children cared for.
U.S. leadership through PEPFAR, UNAIDS, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria has achieved impressive results, and has proved that we can end HIV/AIDS as a public health threat by as soon as 2030. To date, 12 PEPFAR priority countries have achieved the goals of:
- 95% of people living with HIV/AIDS know their status,
- 95% of people diagnosed with HIV receive treatment, and
- 95% receiving treatment achieve viral suppression.
Investing in HIV/AIDS also produces economic benefits worth $6.44 for every $1 spent on HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention. These investments promote economic growth, alleviate poverty, and promote human dignity.
At the end of 2023, $19.8 billion (in constant 2019 United States dollars) was available for the AIDS response in low- and middle-income countries—around 59% was from domestic sources. Local partners are funding this effort, but as a world leader, the U.S. has a vital role to play in championing the end of HIV/AIDS through programs we know are working.
As a network of faith-based organizations who care deeply for the most vulnerable, whom we believe are made in God’s image, we know the path forward to end HIV/AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. We hear from faith-based organizations and institutions across the globe that PEPFAR saves lives and they are grateful to the United States. A clean, five-year reauthorization of this life-saving program signals to the world that no matter the challenges - the U.S. is still leading and committed to saving lives and ending HIV/AIDS as a public health threat.
As people of faith, we believe in the moral imperative to protect our neighbors, particularly those in communities most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and pollution. We urge you to seek a path forward that respects both our environment and the communities and nations that bear the brunt of environmental harm.
For the sake of our children, grandchildren, and future generations, we ask you to stand with us in working toward a clean, just, and sustainable future for all.
Thank you for your attention to this critical matter.
Sincerely,
Africa Christian Health Associations Platform (ACHAP)
African Mission Healthcare (DeLand, FL)
American Jewish World Service (New York NY)
Bureau des Formations Médicales Agréées du Rwanda (BUFMAR)
Children's AIDS Fund International (Sterling, VA)
Christian Connections for International Health (Alexandria, VA)
Disabled Children's Fund (Crofton, MD)
ESADER
Evangelical Immigration Table
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (Chicago, IL)
Faith Apostolic Mission International Church
Faiths for Safe Water
Food for the Hungry (Washington, DC)
Friends of Kijabe
Friends of Shirati
General Board of Global Ministries, the United Methodist Church (Washington, DC)
Global Anabaptist Health Network
Healey International Relief Foundation (Cherry Hill, NJ)
ICMDA
Isaiah 58 Care Foundation
Islamic Relief USA (Alexandria, VA)
Kupenda for the Children (Hampton, NH)
Maitaimako Outreach Foundation
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns (Washington, DC)
Presbyterian Church (USA), Office of Public Witness (Washington, DC)
Programme d'Actions pour le Développement au Congo asbl (RDC)
Rwanda Interfaith Council on Health (RICH)
United Church of Christ (Cleveland, OH)
World Relief (Baltimore, MD)
World Renew (Byron Center, MI)
World Vision (Washington, DC)
Union for Reform Judaism (Cincinnati, OH)
Zimbabwe YMCA
Photo of Ambassador Nkengasong visits to PEPFAR countries: Eswatini, Mozambique, Namibia, and Tanzania via Flickr.