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Foundation Warns Proposed US Budget Cuts Could Result in More Infant HIV
Infections

   Joe DeCapua  February 22, 2011

   There  were  more  warnings Tuesday about the consequences of proposed
   U.S. foreign aid budget cuts.

   The  Elizabeth  Glaser  Pediatric  Aids  Foundation  says thousands of
   infants  in developing countries could be needlessly infected with HIV
   if  the cuts get final approval.Ā  The foundation operates programs to
   prevent   mother-to-child   transmission  of  HIV,  most  of  them  in
   sub-Saharan Africa.

   Last  week,  the  House  of Representatives passed legislation cutting
   hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  from  PEPFAR  ā  the  Presidentās
   Emergency  Plan  for AIDS Relief -- and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS,
   TB  and  Malaria.Ā  The organization is calling on the U.S. Senate and
   President Obama to reject the cuts.

   āThe  proposed  budget  cuts,ā  says  President and CEO Charles Lyons,
   āhave  very  real  implications  of  life and death in large numbers.Ā
   These  are  major  cuts  that  are being proposed that we havenāt seen
   before  and  it  would  reduce  services  that we help provide through
   PEPFAR.Ā  And they are really very, very worrying.ā 

   Mothers and children

   Lyons   says   PEPFAR   officials   have   calculated   the  potential
   consequences.

   āIf  the  House  cuts to PEPFAR become law, and they donāt necessarily
   have  to become law, PEPFAR estimates that there could be as many as a
   hundred  thousand  fewer  pregnant  women  that  receive services that
   protect  their  babies from the virus.Ā  That could result in at least
   20,000 infants that are infected with HIV.ā

Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation

   Charles Lyons

   He  says  up  to  half  of  children  born infected, who donāt receive
   antiretroviral drug treatment, could die by their second birthday.

   āOr if they were able to get access to services it means a lifetime of
   treatment, which is just a far, far greater cost,ā says Lyons.

   Drugs  now used to prevent mother-to-child transmission are relatively
   cheap.Ā  Estimates for drugs and follow-up medical services range from
   $145 to $600.

   Donāt make sense?

   The  Glaser  Foundation  president  says the proposed cuts ādonāt make
   economic  sense.Ā   They  donāt make economic sense.Ā  They donāt make
   political sense.Ā  I donāt think they make moral sense.ā

   Lyons  says prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTC) has been
   not  only  cost effective, but also extremely successful.Ā  Five years
   ago,  itās  estimated  only  15  percent of women around the world had
   access  to  PMTCT  services.Ā Ā   Itās  now  53  percent, according to
   PEPFAR.

   āThat  is  tremendous, steady, sustainable progress that is threatened
   by these proposed cuts,ā he says.

   Leading the way

   āFor  the  last  eight, nine years, PEPFAR, started by President Bush,
   has  led  the  world  in  services to fight HIV and AIDS,ā Lyons says,
   adding, āThe PEPFAR program is one of those in foreign assistance that
   truly enjoys bipartisan support.ā

   The  Glaser  foundation,  CARE  and other groups say theyāre trying to
   correct  a misperception among the American public that foreign aid is
   a major part of the U.S. budget.

   āThereās  a  common  misperception  that  foreign aid is as much as 25
   percent  of  the  federal  budget.Ā  Itās one percent.Ā  These are the
   kinds  of  programs  that  the  American  people  support.Ā  Itās very
   consistent  with  what  weāve seen in polls and what we say our values
   are and what we should be trying to accomplish with foreign assistance
   thatās effective,ā says Lyons.

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