Praise For The Global HIV Program That Trump Wants To Cut

Girls at the St. John’s Community Centre in Nairobi, Kenya, attend an event supported by PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

Ben Curtis / AP

The 22nd annual International AIDS Conference is currently underway in Amsterdam. And several studies are looking at the U.S. government’s largest foreign HIV program: the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR.

The multi-billion dollar program to combat HIV and AIDS globally has been slated for cuts by the Trump administration. But researchers and African health officials credit the program started by President George W. Bush with helping to change the trajectory of the AIDS epidemic.

Bernard Haufiku, the current minister of health for Namibia, says that for his small southern African nation, the impact of AIDS has been enormous.