And urges him to take immediate action to keep the Obama Administration from breaking its promises to increase global AIDS treatment and prevention funding
Contact: Skip Moskey, 202-420-0837
Washington, DC (Saturday, April 25, 2009)—Dr. Eric Goosby, who will be named Global AIDS Coordinator on Monday, has a unique opportunity to hold the Obama administration accountable for its campaign promises to increase funding for prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS overseas through the U.S. foreign assistance budget.
In 2008, then-Presidential candidates Obama, Biden, and Clinton signed a pledge promising to provide at least $50 billion by the year 2013 to support the global fight against AIDS, but the President's FY10 budget request is well below what is required to keep that promise. To view his promise, please link to:
http://www.globalaidsalliance.org/index.php/c4_site/interior/2008_candidate_pledges/
The Global AIDS Alliance Fund recognizes that the U.S. domestic budget and global economies are facing unprecedented pressure, and that there are calls from all sides of the issue to control government spending. "This is short-sighted from a national security perspective, and from the need to protect the American people from global infectious diseases. The spread of swine flu is the most prescient example of that," said Dr. Paul Zeitz, executive director of the Global AIDS Alliance Fund.
"We welcome Dr. Goosby, but will hold him accountable for policy reforms—and especially for full funding of the President's campaign promises. We challenge the President and the Secretary of State to ensure that Dr. Goosby isn't being charged with overseeing the flatlining of hope for millions of people around the world.
"President Obama and his Administration must keep their financial commitments on foreign assistance. If they don't, the hope of restoring America's role in the world will be buried along with millions of Africans, Asians, and Latin Americans who will die without access to lifesaving treatments for AIDS. The equation is tragically simple: broken campaign promises equal suffering and death for millions," said Zeitz.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR THIS STORY:
Fact sheet on the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)
http://aidsalliance.3cdn.net/156ea5c4b3e338d235_4zm6b5vpt.pdf
Recommendations for reforming PEPFAR
http://www.globalaidsalliance.org/index.php/1162
Analysis of President Obama's FY10 budget framework
http://aidsalliance.3cdn.net/7a04d58500f1f150e3_7ym6b9eds.pdf
