On May 7, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs held a hearing to discuss U.S. efforts to combat the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. Subcommittee Chair Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) opened the hearing by stating that the subcommittee “enthusiastically supports” the President’s HIV/AIDS initiative and will “work closely to make sure that the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB), and Malaria works properly.”
Speaking before the subcommittee, Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson explained the department’s role in combating the spread of HIV/AIDS. Secretary Thompson said that there are three HHS operating divisions “most actively involved” in fighting HIV/AIDS worldwide—the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
He noted that the NIH has “a strong research portfolio” in the area of HIV, including “vital efforts to develop a vaccine to prevent HIV infection and new treatment technologies and strategies.” Additionally, the CDC has “engaged in international applied AIDS research and programmatic efforts since the beginning of the pandemic” and HRSA “works to train health care workers internationally to care for people living with HIV and AIDS.”
According to Secretary Thompson, the President’s Mother and Child HIV Prevention Initiative has been implemented in 14 countries, and HHS hopes that within five years, the program will “target one million HIV-infected women annually, provide them with HIV counseling and voluntary testing; provide them with essential prenatal care and supportive services; and provide them with the life saving drugs to help ensure that their babies are born free of HIV infection.” Additionally, Secretary Thompson said that the initiative is expected to reduce mother-to-child HIV transmission by 40 percent among the women treated.
Richard Geachem of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria noted that there are three goals that “characterize what the Global Fund must do to have a distinct and additive role and to play its full part in a comprehensive global response” to the HIV/AIDS pandemic—enable and support government and civil society partnerships, reduce transaction costs, and finance prevention and treatment programs. He said that “large scale reductions in disease will take time but soon we will be able to show increasing numbers of people receiving effective prevention and treatment services.” Mr. Geachem continued by saying that “these increases in coverage will drive further funding and further results, and bring us closer to the day when we can demonstrate that the tide has turned.”
David Gootnick of the General Accounting Office (GAO) noted that the GAO’s assessment of the Global Fund’s first year of operation shows that “it provides a promising mechanism to complement bilateral, multilateral, and private initiatives to fight three of the world’s deadliest diseases.” He added that the Global Fund’s success “will depend on its ability to meet the challenges of facilitating effective locally based governance and oversight mechanisms and raising sufficient resources to continue to approve and finance grants.”
