CRS urges vital U.S. effort to stop HIV

Social justice news
December 14, 2007

CRS urges vital U.S. effort to stop HIV
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) President Ken Hackett testified today before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, calling on the influential panel to continue and expand the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The only witness representing an agency carrying out PEPFAR programs overseas, Hackett focused on critical needs on the ground.

"PEPFAR is above all a program of hope," he told the committee while highlighting the need to provide adequate resources, to coordinate with other assistance programs - particularly those focused on nutrition, agriculture and education - and to enhance PEPFAR's basic model.

PEPFAR started as a five-year, $15 billion initiative to help targeted countries affected by HIV. In addition to providing life-saving medications to nearly 1.5 million people in 15 countries, the program offers a range of services, from support to orphans to prevention education. As PEPFAR nears its five-year mark, lawmakers are considering reauthorization. Through the program, CRS and its partners provide antiretroviral therapy and other treatment and support services to nearly a quarter of a million people living with HIV.

The agency's response to the HIV pandemic focuses on long-term sustainable development that strengthens local partners, including physicians and healthcare workers.

"But it will be a long time before the poorest countries of the world can completely and independently take on the burden of addressing this pandemic," Hackett said in prepared oral testimony. "Until then, providing these vital services through PEPFAR is the right thing to do."

To illustrate success seen on the ground, Hackett mentioned Bridget Chisenga, a Zambian woman who works for CRS on PEPFAR-supported projects in her home country. Known as "Auntie Bridget" to friends and colleagues, Chisenga helps people at CRS-supported clinics adhere to the sometimes difficult regimen of antiretroviral therapy. She frequently talks about the "Lazarus effect" of the treatment - severely ill clients who come back to life after starting on medication.

"But Auntie Bridget isn't just a PEPFAR implementer - she is also receiving antiretroviral therapy. Without PEPFAR, Auntie Bridget would not be alive. She herself is part of the 'Lazarus effect,'" Hackett said.

Hopeful about the program's future, Hackett encouraged the Senate committee to support necessary changes and enable PEPFAR implementers to expand its reach.

"Strong leadership and broad bipartisan support have resulted in an initiative that shows the best possible face of the American people toward our world neighbors. PEPFAR has come through its gestation period. That was painful. Now it is ready to really take off," he said.

Hackett's written testimony will be available here.

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