USCCB-CRS Letter to Director Mulvaney on HIV-AIDS Programs, December 1, 2017

Letter from Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, Chairman, Committee on International Justice and Peace and Sean Callahan, President, Catholic Relief Services to Director Mick Mulvaney on HIV-AIDS Programs, December 1, 2017

With the approach of World AIDS Day on December 1, we write to urge that the administration’s budget request for FY19 fully fund U.S. global HIV and AIDS programs. At a moment when we are finally witnessing great success in turning back a disease that shocked the world only a generation ago, any cuts in funding would directly result in a reduction in the number of people living with HIV who are added to treatment each year, and could trigger a resurgence in the global epidemic.  

In 2000, before the creation of PEPFAR and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, only 685,000 people had access to HIV treatment. Today, thanks to global leadership by the United States and bold financial commitments by many others, roughly 21 million people have access to anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs). According to UNAIDS, the past six years has seen a reduction of 56 % in new infections in children in Eastern and Southern Africa and a 47 % reduction worldwide.  Although we have principled concerns about those PEPFAR and Global Fund prevention activities we find inconsistent with Catholic teaching and do not implement or advocate for these activities, we support the lifesaving missions of PEPFAR and the Global Fund and urge robust funding for both programs. 

Despite enormous gains, millions of lives still hang in the balance. Roughly 30 % of people living with HIV do not know their HIV status; 17.1 million people living with HIV do not have access to antiretroviral therapy, one million of them children; and more than half of all people living with HIV are not virally suppressed. Further, there are over 16 million children who have lost one or both parents due to AIDS-related illnesses, and millions more children who are vulnerable because the disease has contributed to malnutrition, cognitive delays, stunting, lack of education and poor physical and mental health. There is much work to be done to make a difference in the lives of these children and their families.

USCCB-CRS-Letter-to-Director-Mulvaney-re-HIV-AIDS-Program-Funding-2017-12-01.pdf