2/4/2008

Contact: Robert Yule
202-448-8456
ryule@pedaids.org

Statement of Pamela W. Barnes, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation

The President’s failure in the budget released today to provide critical funding increases to fight the global HIV/AIDS pandemic is deeply troubling. The President’s Fiscal Year 2009 budget flatlines funding for PEPFAR (the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) and related global health programs. Given inevitable increases in the cost of goods and services, particularly fuel, this amounts to a net reduction in funding for critical HIV/AIDS services.

We will not be able to make meaningful strides against this global pandemic unless funding commitments keep pace with the global need. The flat funding proposed by the President for PEPFAR will significantly impede efforts to expand the prevention, care, and treatment programs that are desperately needed by so many. Even today, experts estimate that less than 10 percent of HIV-positive pregnant women in resource-poor countries have access to services to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Tragically, 420,000 children were infected with HIV in 2007, most through mother-to-child transmission. These infections could have been prevented. This is not the time to lessen our commitment to fighting this scourge.

The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation calls on the President and Congress to increase funding levels for PEPFAR to at least $50 billion over the next five years so we can reach thousands more mothers, children, and families with hope for a healthy future.

On the domestic front, we also were disappointed to see that the National Institutes of Health and the Ryan White Care Act were effectively flat-funded. We must fight the AIDS pandemic on all fronts. This requires adequate funding for biomedical research crucial to the fight against HIV/AIDS and finding a vaccine, as well as for the care and treatment of persons and families living with HIV/AIDS in the United States.

About the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation
The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation is a worldwide leader in the fight against pediatric AIDS. Its innovative research programs, collaborative training initiatives, advocacy efforts, and rapidly expanding international prevention and treatment programs are bringing dramatic changes to the lives of children worldwide.