Congratulations on the global HIV program that Trump wants to reduce

The 22nd Annual International AIDS Conference is currently underway in Amsterdam. And several studies examine the US government's largest foreign HIV program: the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)

The multibillion-dollar program to fight HIV and AIDS. But researchers and health officials in Africa attribute the program launched by President George W. Bush to changing the trajectory of the AIDS epidemic.

Bernard Haufiku, current health minister of Namibia the impact of AIDS has been huge.

"In addition to the loss of human life, it has eroded our economy and invaded our social fabric," says Haufiku. "There are orphans because the parents are dead and now we are spending as much on health as we could have spent on other development projects."

Between 12% and 14% of all adults in Namibia are HIV-positive. According to an article published today at the conference, the number of new cases of HIV infection in Namibia has dropped by 40 percent

. According to Haufiku, the ambitious goals of the UN should be achieved by 2030. Namibia has done this by focusing on the "hotspots" of transmission, identifying infected people and putting them under control. AIDS treatment for life.

"When you put people on treatment," he says, "risk of transmission. "

Namibia has a tiny population of 2.5 million people and has limited resources

Last year, Namibia received $ 73 million from PEPFAR." According to Mr. Haufiku, progress made by Namibia and other African countries against HIV would not have been possible without PEPFAR

"PEPFAR, which is essentially the money of US taxpayers, has made a huge difference. "" In many African countries, this has been a matter of life and death. "

Another document released today at the AIDS conference examines whether PEPFAR expenditures in Kenya reduce HIV transmission from pregnant women to their babies, a drop in infant mortality.

Donna Spiegelman, professor of biostatistics at Yale, is one of the co-authors of the report on Kenya. is looking at parts of Kenya where nearly $ 250,000 is The PEPFAR fund has been spent over a decade. The funds were donated for a wide range of HIV and AIDS programs ranging from testing to treatment and prevention campaigns.

"It's a major investment of the US government," says Spiegelman. "It is important to ensure that the funds we spend on a range of public health programs are spent wisely and achieve the desired results."

During the period she watched, from 2004 to 2014, infant mortality declined across the country in Kenya. But Spiegelman (who was then working at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health) and his team found that in the top 25% of the provinces receiving PEPFAR funding, infant mortality was 30% lower than that of the less favored provinces. amount of PEPFAR money. Not only were deaths averted, but tens of thousands of babies were born without HIV even though their mothers were carrying the virus.

"So we are happy to help to show that in this particular case it seems that the investment was"

The Trump administration has been lobbying to remove close to a $ 4.5 billion in PEPFAR's $ 4.5 billion annual budget The government says it wants to streamline the program Rather than fund HIV / AIDS programs in dozens of countries around the world he wants to focus primarily on 13 countries close to the fight against the disease.Until, however, the Congress has resisted the proposed budget cuts.

Copyright NPR 2018.