Message from UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé
GENEVA, 18 June 2013—Ten years ago, President George W. Bush announced the creation of The Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in his State of the Union Address. Its aim was to provide antiretroviral treatment to 2 million people, prevent 7 million new HIV infections and provide care and support to 10 million people by 2010.
On this 10th anniversary of PEPFAR we are able to celebrate its extraordinary success. Not only did it achieve its initial goals but it has surpassed them by a wide margin. By 2012 PEPFAR was supporting treatment for more than 5 million people and providing care and support to 15 million, including nearly 5 million children.
PEPFAR has embodied the spirit of shared responsibility and global solidarity through its commitment to helping the most vulnerable in society.
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has worked closely with PEPFAR since its inception collaborating on expanding access to treatment, stopping new HIV infections in children through the Global Plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive and ensuring a long term, sustainable response to HIV.
This shared responsibility has been replicated around the world with donor and partner nations making smart investments to save lives. This collective global effort, by government, donors, private foundations, and multilateral institutions such as UNITAID and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has transformed the global AIDS response. Ensuring treatment for more than 9 million people around the world, PEPFAR has also contributed to a 20% decline in AIDS-related deaths and a 25% fall in new HIV infections since the peak of the epidemic.
PEPFAR has been among the leaders setting a strong example for the world in which we all have a role to play. Today, the end of AIDS is coming into sight. Now we must continue to work together to ensure that PEPFAR’s second decade sees an AIDS-free generation.
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