15 Years Later: How Well Are We Doing Addressing AIDS

This #WorldAIDSDay, we celebrate the astounding progress made in the past 15 years! Thanks to PEPFAR— the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief—14.6 million people living with HIV (59%) have access to antiretroviral therapy. More than 2.4 million babies have been born HIV-free. Countless lives have been saved.

This progress was unthinkable when I was a surgical resident in training in the 1980s, studying the latest medical literature and tracking this mysterious new virus. On my annual medical mission trips to Africa, I saw the virus at scale. My clinics overflowed with AIDS patients. I watched the virus hollow out entire societies, taking first the most productive members at the prime of their lives — teachers, police, civil servants, mothers.

I knew there was not much a surgeon could do for a patient dying of AIDS. But in the late 1990s, I wasn’t only a surgeon. I had a new set of colleagues who wielded different tools. I shared stories and photos and data with my fellow Senators. I found allies on both sides of the aisle who grasped the scale of the problem, but also saw—with hope—an opportunity to help. Joe Biden, Barbara Lee, John Kerry, Jesse Helms and others shared my concern.

In 2003, when I was Senate Majority Leader, I joined President George W. Bush in the Red Room of the White House. There were only a handful of people in the room, but it was a monumental meeting.

For two hours the President spelled out his ambitious plan to commit US leadership and resources to eradicate AIDS in Africa. With careful assessment of the science, the cost, and the risk, President Bush committed the American people to an unprecedented investment in life, hope, and healing.

Several in that room raised objections. “But Mr. President,” someone said, “it’s never been done before.” President George W. Bush simply stood: “And that’s why the American people will do it.”

The meeting was adjourned.

After President Bush announced the plan in his State of the Union Address, I was honored to present PEPFAR for a vote in the US Senate. I said at the time: “History will judge whether a world led by America stood by and let transpire one of the greatest destructions of human life in recorded history—or performed one of its most heroic rescues.”

We are proven to be rescuers. And we must finish the effort that only we could begin.

I am thrilled that this week—again with bipartisan support—the PEPFAR legislation was reauthorized through 2023. Our race is not yet finished. We’ve got work to do to further expand testing: 75% of people with HIV know their status, but we can do better. We also need to reach children with diagnostic tests and antiretrovirals more quickly. And while more people are receiving treatment than ever, nearly 2 million became newly infected with HIV in 2017. We have turned the tide on the epidemic but we haven’t yet won the war.

But PEPFAR is about more than just diagnostics and drugs. PEPFAR is the flagship example of strategic health diplomacy, the idea that by addressing global health, America advances its own national strategic interests. Our investments in health serve America as well as the countries we help.

This World AIDS Day, there is still work to be done. And we can pursue that work knowing that we have already achieved the impossible: saved lives, communities, and cultures. It is our privilege and responsibility to continue creating a future where there was none before. 

Previously in Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/billfrist/2018/12/01/15-years-later-how-well-are-we-doing-addressing-aids/#503ee34e2ee5