GAPP Statement on Senate Markup of FY25 SFOPS Bill
BILL Underscores Bipartisan Support for PEPFAR
But Overall Funding Level Puts HIV/AIDS Response in Jeopardy
On Friday, the Senate met to markup the fiscal year (FY) 2025 State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs (SFOPS) bill. The bill hews largely to the FY24 levels for HIV programs, with flat funding for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), and $1.2 billion for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund), which is less than the amount requested in the House version of the bill.
Importantly, the bill extends PEPFAR authorization from March 2025 to September 2026. This makes clear broad bipartisan support for the program remains steadfast. This show of commitment is appreciated, however it is essential that we continue to fight for a clean, 5-year reauthorization.
We urge Congress to ensure that adequate resources are provided for AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. We understand the reduction in the Global Fund contribution is related to the matching requirement, but would have liked to have seen those resources allocated elsewhere in global health. We are disappointed to see that, instead, it has resulted in an overall reduction to global health funding.
Despite tremendous progress achieved by PEPFAR, UNAIDS, and the Global Fund, every week nearly 4,000 young women aged 15-24 are infected with HIV worldwide. More than 9 million people – nearly a quarter of those living with HIV – are still not able to access the antiretroviral therapy they need to survive and thrive. Only about half of HIV-positive children currently access treatment. Of those left untreated, half will die before their second birthday. Each year 1.3 million people are still newly infected with HIV, a number that remains essentially stagnant. For the first time ever, the majority of new HIV infections are outside of sub-Saharan Africa, raising the need for investment even further.
PEPFAR, UNAIDS, and the Global Fund are leading global efforts to end the HIV pandemic. In addition, PEPFAR is essential to combatting other global health threats, including Ebola, COVID-19 and mpox. But without adequate funding, we are jeopardizing these efforts. We cannot allow FY25 global health funding to be further reduced from FY24 levels. Congress must prioritize global health by providing the resources needed to meet our global health goals.