694 - World AIDS Day: Why The World's Most Lifesaving AIDS Program is in Danger
Public Health On Call
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
4.6 • 644 Ratings
🗓️ 1 December 2023
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
PEPFAR, or the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, was initiated by President Bush in 2003 is credited with saving 25 million lives over the past 20 years and remains the largest commitment to a single disease in history. But the global bipartisan program is now at the mercy of American politics. Dr. Chris Beyrer, director of the Duke Global Health Institute and a member of the scientific advisory board for PEPFAR, returns to the podcast to talk with Stephanie Desmon about why PEPFAR's reauthorization is in jeopardy and what the failure of reauthorization could mean for global health.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, |
| 0:05.9 | where we bring evidence, experience, and perspective to make sense of today's leading health challenges. |
| 0:16.3 | If you have questions or ideas for us, please send an email to public health question at jh. |
| 0:21.6 | Jh.edu. |
| 0:22.6 | That's public health question at jh.u.edu for future podcast episodes. |
| 0:29.6 | This is Lindsay Smith Rogers. |
| 0:33.6 | Today in recognition of World AIDS Day, Stephanie Desmond speaks to Dr. Chris Beir, |
| 0:40.6 | director of the Duke Global Health Institute and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for |
| 0:45.8 | PEPFAR, the Global Bipfar, the Global Bipartisan AIDS Program that has been credited with saving |
| 0:50.6 | 25 million lives over the last 20 years. |
| 1:00.1 | They discuss why American politics are jeopardizing the reauthorization of PEPFAR and what could be lost if no agreement is made. Let's listen. |
| 1:04.3 | Chris Byer, thanks so much for joining me. |
| 1:06.7 | Great to be with you, Stephanie. |
| 1:08.7 | Today I want to talk to you about PEPFAR. |
| 1:11.4 | And the first question I have, of course, is what is it? |
| 1:14.8 | PEPFAR, which is an acronym for the president's emergency plan for AIDS relief, is the largest |
| 1:21.5 | commitment in history to a single disease. |
| 1:24.5 | It was initiated by President George W. Bush in 2003, with an initial |
| 1:31.6 | $15 billion commitment over five years. And what is it accomplished in that 20 years? Yeah, well, it's |
| 1:39.8 | been reauthorized four times now. So this year actually is the 20th anniversary of the PEPFAR program. |
| 1:47.7 | And it has maintained, I think, almost uniquely of programs of this size and scope. |
| 1:54.7 | True bipartisan support for all of these 20 years. So it was continued by President Obama. It was continued by President Trump. |
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