Reducing PEPFAR resources may negatively impact global health

Shifting U.S. resources away from HIV/AIDS and toward interventions which appear to be more cost-effective may have serious consequences on global health, according to findings published recently in an article in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Experts have argued that resources from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) may be more effectively used to combat such illnesses as diarrhea and pneumonia in developing countries. The writers of the article disagree.

“Bringing the HIV epidemic under control through treatment and prevention is fundamental to the success of all other health measures,” wrote Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH,and Daniel Kuritzkes, MD, both of whom are from Harvard Medical School. “The perception that PEPFAR is at odds with dedicated efforts toward maternal and child health ignores the massive direct and indirect benefits PEPFAR has achieved for mothers and children.”

“While prevention of and treatment for diarrheal disease remains a critical global health mission, there is no need to crusade against HIV disease to expand funding for other urgent global health needs,” Kuritzkes said in a press release. “Characterizing the dialog as a choice between diarrheal disease and AIDS neglects the profound detrimental impact on children that would occur if current AIDS initiatives were short-changed.”