USAID is observing World AIDS Day this year by celebrating ten years of our HIV and AIDS work under PEPFAR.
In less than two short weeks, the global health community will unite to commemorate the fight against AIDS. The United States, foreign governments, civil society, local communities and many others dedicated to reaching an AIDS-free generation will mobilize around the world to celebrate the incredible achievements that have been made since the epidemic was first identified over 30 years ago.
We’ve come a long way in the last three decades: unexplained immune system failure and a race to identify the cause in the early 1980s; life-sustaining therapy introduced in the mid-1990s; a landmark foreign assistance initiative in 2003 that brought treatment to millions of people who had no access before; and a groundbreaking study in 2011 showing that healthy people living with HIV on antiretrovirals can limit transmission by 96 percent. The worldview of the HIV pandemic has changed dramatically in our lifetime.
The Building Local Capacity Project has reached 57,223 orphans and vulnerable children (OCV) and caregivers with child health services in southern Africa. Photo credit: Management Sciences for Health
Our work is not over. As Secretary of State John Kerry said during a speech earlier this year, “As progress continues, we will gradually evolve as our fight against this disease evolves, and that is going to happen both by necessity and by design. Achieving an AIDS-free generation is a shared responsibility and it is going to be a shared accomplishment.”
Some of the most monumental achievements in combating HIV and AIDS have occurred in the past 10 years with the creation of two unprecedented global health programs – the Global Fund Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). PEPFAR was, and continues to be, ambitious, visionary, and far-reaching. Through access to antiretroviral treatment, it has literally brought people living with HIV back from the brink of death and enabled them to live long and healthy lives.
It’s been ten years since the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003 was passed into law, creating PEPFAR. And today, we can confidently say that the program has saved millions of lives and delivered hope to communities where it was so desperately needed.
As a key implementing agency, USAID has contributed significantly to these remarkable achievements. Through programs that prevent mother-to-child transmission, offer voluntary medical male circumcision and improve condom use, to those that reduce gender-based violence and risky behaviors for select populations; through our commitment to deliver effective treatments and care for the most vulnerable – especially orphans and other affected children – to our support for the development of an HIV vaccine, USAID has played a significant role in changing the face of the pandemic around the world.
In the 10 days leading up to World AIDS Day – through a digital campaign called 10 for 10 (PDF) – USAID will share stories from the last decade that touch on the various ways the agency has contributed to one of the most successful foreign assistance programs ever created. This campaign will culminate in the launch of “Gift’s Last Ten Years” – an animated video that tells the story of our work through the eyes of a fictional 10-year old southern African girl.
AIDS used to be a disease that everyone feared and discussed only in private. Today, there is a global sense of optimism that did not seem possible at the beginning of this century. What a difference a decade makes – we’re proud to have played our part.
Follow @USAIDGH on Twitter through World AIDS Day, observed on December 2, for key facts, resources, and photos from our programs and partners and join the conversation using the hashtag #WAD2013.
