CHICAGO, April 17 (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department on Friday said it had supported HIV treatment for 20.6 million people as of September last year, including 3 million people whose care was provided by their own governments rather than the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
The PEPFAR program, the world’s leading HIV/AIDS initiative, has been credited with saving 26 million lives and preventing HIV infections in 7.8 million babies born to HIV-infected mothers since its start in 2003 under President George W. Bush.
President Donald Trump put almost all U.S. foreign aid on a 90-day hold upon taking office on January 20.
Days later, the State Department said life-saving HIV work under PEPFAR would continue. But most HIV prevention efforts, including pre-exposure prophylaxis – in which HIV-blocking drugs are given to people at risk of infection – were curtailed.
(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen and Christy Santhosh; Editing by Maju Samuel)
