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On Thursday, thousands of South Africans marched outside the US consulate in Johannesburg to protest the Obama administration's scaling back of funding increases to fight AIDS globally. The activists, wearing green T-shirts that said "HIV-Positive," urged the United States to increase its contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria to $2.8 billion by 2013. Protesters noted that the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief recently received only a modest increase, which has led to treatment shortages at PEPFAR-supported clinics and forced providers to ration medication.
PEPFAR officials said this year's budget increased from $6.8 billion in 2010 to nearly $7 billion for 2011.
"Over the years ahead, [lack of funding] will condemn millions of newly infected patients to death and threaten the health of those already on treatment," protesters said in a statement.
US officials replied in a statement that the nation's contribution to South Africa for HIV/AIDS has increased, and that "the U.S. remains fully committed to the fight against HIV/AIDS, especially in Africa, and remains the largest funder and technical adviser of the global response."
Advocates at the protest also urged the European Union, China, Japan, and Canada to increase AIDS funding, and for African leaders to make good on their pledge to increase health spending to 15 percent of their national budgets.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
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