February 12, 2018
Contact: Jessica Bassett, 518-593-7628, [email protected]

STATEMENT FROM HEALTH GAP ON THE PRESIDENT’S BUDGET PROPOSAL: DEADLY ATTACK ON GLOBAL AIDS PROGRAMS GOES AGAINST AMERICAN VALUES

 Asia Russell, Executive Director of the Health Global Access Project (Health GAP) issued the following statement:

“President Trump’s proposal to cut over a billion dollars from the U.S. global HIV response in fiscal year 2019 shows how very out of touch he is with the American people and their values. Americans from across the political spectrum and every part of the country support the U.S. government’s long-standing leadership in funding life-saving HIV treatment and prevention programs in sub-Saharan Africa and across the developing world.

“If this budget passes as proposed, Donald Trump’s legacy will be millions of new and unnecessary infections and deaths – and a massive resurgence in the AIDS pandemic.

“This is not a time to back down. U.S. funding for global AIDS programs has been critical in reducing deaths and new infections to the point where defeating AIDS is within reach. But after several years of flat funding from Congress, the response is running out of gas. At the very moment we should be on the brink of ending AIDS, Trump’s deadly budget would shift the global AIDS response into reverse.

“Congress should treat this proposal the way they treated the President’s first budget – by declaring it dead on arrival. Instead, Congress should uphold American leadership in the fight against HIV by providing urgently-needed funding increases for PEPFAR and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in the coming fiscal year.”

About Health GAP:

Health GAP is an international advocacy organization dedicated to ensuring that all people living with HIV have access to affordable life sustaining medicines. Our team pairs pragmatic policy work with audacious grassroots action to win equitable access to treatment, care and prevention for people living with and affected by HIV worldwide. We are dedicated to eliminating barriers to universal access to affordable life sustaining medicines for people living with HIV/AIDS as key to a comprehensive strategy to confront and ultimately stop the AIDS pandemic. We believe that the human right to life and to health must prevail over the pharmaceutical industry's excessive profits and expanding patent rights.

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