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The Lawfare Podcast

The PEPFAR Reauthorization Battle, with Emily Bass

The Lawfare Podcast

The Lawfare Institute

Politics, Terrorism, National Security, News, Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Intelligence, Rule Of Law, Military, Constitutional Law, Current Events, International Relations, History, International Law, Government, Law

4.76.4K Ratings

🗓️ 22 August 2023

⏱️ 41 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 2003, President Bush created the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, and in the twenty years since, the program has been credited with saving over 25 million lives and stabilizing health systems around the world. On Sept. 30, 2023, the program will expire if Congress doesn’t act, putting millions of people at risk of losing access to HIV/AIDS treatment.

Lawfare Associate Editor of Communications Anna Hickey sat down with Emily Bass, a writer and activist who has spent more than twenty years writing about and working on HIV/AIDS. In 2021, she wrote “To End a Plague,” a book on America's war on AIDS in Africa. They discussed how PEPFAR has changed over the past two decades, why it is at risk of expiring this fall, and what the expiration would mean for the millions of people who depend on it.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

The following podcast contains advertising to access an ad-free version of the LawFair

0:07.2

podcast become a material supporter of LawFair at patreon.com slash LawFair, that's patreon.com slash

0:16.8

LawFair. Also check out LawFair's other podcast offerings, rational security, chatter, LawFair

0:25.6

no bull, and the aftermath.

0:33.6

It's appropriation. You lose all the controls that actually everybody, including conservatives,

0:39.0

really liked around what PEPFAR is and what it drives for. Or, and this is what representative

0:43.6

Smith is proposing, you could do a one-year reauthorization. You have to remember that these plans,

0:49.9

these programs are long-term, they're ongoing, they're getting increasingly focused on interventions

0:55.4

that can achieve epidemic control, can really bring HIV, epidemic levels of HIV to an end. And

1:01.6

that a one-year authorization disrupts a proven planning cycle. It shakes confidence in country

1:08.8

governments who are trying to figure out whether the US has been it for the long haul or not.

1:12.5

And it also really undermines our ability to leverage and work with investments in laboratory

1:17.7

infrastructure, in sequencing and diagnostics that support PEPFAR and HIV, but also really support

1:23.9

pandemic preparedness and outbreak response. I'm Anna Hickey, Associate Editor of Communications

1:30.7

for LawFair, and this is the LawFair podcast, August 22nd, 2023. In 2003, President Bush created

1:38.0

the President's emergency plan for AIDS relief, or PEPFAR, and in the 20 years sense, the program

1:43.5

has been credited with saving over 25 million lives and stabilizing health systems around the world.

1:49.3

This fall, the program will expire if Congress doesn't act, putting millions of people at risk of

1:53.7

losing access to HIV AIDS treatment. I sat down with Emily Bass, a writer and activist who has

1:59.8

spent more than 20 years writing about and working on HIV AIDS. In 2021, she wrote to end a plague,

2:06.2

a book on America's War on AIDS in Africa. We discussed how PEPFAR has changed over the past two

2:11.4

decades. Why does that risk of expiring this fall and what the expiration would mean for the millions

...

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