And guess who’s paying for it?
Raise your hand if know what PEPFAR stands for. Raise both hands if you now how much it costs. Launched in 2003 by George W. Bush, PEPFAR stands for President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, and it has now grown to the point where it is virtually a promise to help pay for AIDS treatment for every infected poor person in the world. During its first five years, from 2003 to 2008, PEPFAR cost American taxpayers $25 billion. Almost all of that went to Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2009 worldwide, there were an estimated 35 percent more new HIV infections than AIDS-related deaths, so there is no end in sight for the president’s “emergency” program.
You can be infected with HIV, human immunodeficiency virus, without actually being sick. HIV steadily attacks the body’s immune system, however, and most HIV-positive people eventually get AIDS, and without treatment they die. Antiretroviral treatment (ART) does not kill HIV, but it interferes with its ability to replicate, thus reducing “viral load” on the body. People with AIDS have to keep taking the drugs their entire lives to keep the disease under control.
So, just what did George W. Bush get us into?