WASHINGTON — For Dr. John Carlo, CEO of Prism Health North Texas, the effort to provide health care to marginalized communities is a personal one. 

“Many of my friends and family have suffered from HIV and AIDS over the years, but what’s really exciting for me is the work that we can do today with the treatment and how successful we can be in terms of really changing the course of people’s lives,” he told Spectrum News.

What You Need To Know

  • For 20 years, the President’s Emergency Plan For Aids Relief, or PEPFAR, has been routinely reauthorized with broad bipartisan support, but as Congress wades into a bitter budget battle this September, it is suddenly at risk
  • PEPFAR is perhaps former President George W. Bush’s signature foreign policy achievement
  • Today, some House Republicans and conservative groups claim that under the Biden administration, PEPFAR’s dollars are flowing to abortion providers, which public health experts deny
  • Dr. John Carlo, CEO of Prism Health North Texas, says he is proud that 20 years ago the U.S. took its efforts to combat HIV and AIDS to more than 55 countries

Carlo says that although there is still work to do to address the rise in HIV cases in certain communities across Texas, he is proud that 20 years ago the U.S. took its efforts to combat HIV and AIDS to more than 55 countries. That was done under the President’s Emergency Plan For Aids Relief, or PEPFAR. 

“This is even important for us in America, even if those services are abroad,” Carlo said. “What happens all around us, it will impact us eventually, and so I think the big thing about PEPFAR is what it has done has really kept the world safe in many ways, particularly around in places where there was really no health care infrastructure at all.”

PEPFAR is perhaps former President George W. Bush’s signature foreign policy achievement.

In his 2003 State of the Union address announcing its launch, Bush said, “Seldom has history offered a greater opportunity to do so much for so many.”

It is often regarded as one of the country’s most successful global health initiatives. For 20 years, it has been routinely reauthorized with broad bipartisan support, but as Congress wades into a bitter budget battle this September, it is suddenly at risk.

Today, some House Republicans and conservative groups claim that under the Biden administration, PEPFAR’s dollars are flowing to abortion providers, which public health experts deny. 

Last week, Bush published a Washington Post editorial, writing: “The reauthorization is stalled because of questions about whether PEPFAR’s implementation under the current administration is sufficiently pro-life. But there is no program more pro-life than one that has saved more than 25 million lives.” 

Some activists recently staged a sit-in at House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s office, demanding that Congress pass a full rather than partial reauthorization. Among those demonstrators was CEO of Housing Works and Texas native Charles King.

“Countries can’t afford the cost of antiretroviral treatment, which is the treatment that suppresses HIV for people who are HIV-positive,” King said. “What PEPFAR does is it supplies those countries with the financial resources and the technical assistance to allow that to happen, and in the process, what it also does is it helps to strengthen health systems in those countries.”

King warned of what will happen if the program is not extended for another five years.

“If this funding is interrupted or interfered with in any way, we could see a very dramatic increase in new infections. So it’s not just slowing the progress. What we could see happening around the world is a complete reversal of the progress that we’ve made to date,” he said.

President Joe Biden touted PEPFAR in his speech Tuesday to the U.N. General Assembly.

“It’s a profound testament what we can achieve when we act together,” Biden said.