PRESS RELEASES

World AIDS Day: PEPFAR’s Results Announced

President Announces that PEPFAR has Fulfilled Treatment and Care Commitments

December 2, 2008

President George W. Bush announced today at the Saddleback Civil Forum on Global Health that PEPFAR has fulfilled its commitment early to support treatment for two million people.  As of September 30, 2008, PEPFAR supported life-saving antiretroviral treatment for more than 2.1 million men, women and children living with HIV/AIDS around the world. When President George W. Bush announced PEPFAR in 2003, it was estimated that only 50,000 people were receiving treatment for HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. Today, PEPFAR supports treatment for more than 2 million people in sub-Saharan Africa -- forty times the number receiving treatment only five years ago.

As of September 30, 2008, nearly 9.7 million people affected by HIV/AIDS in PEPFAR's 15 focus countries had received compassionate care, including nearly 4 million orphans and vulnerable children. It is safe to say that as of December 1, 2008, the U.S. also has met the goal of supporting care for 10 million people affected by HIV in the focus countries. Globally, the U.S. is supporting care for over 10.1 million.

In addition, nearly 240,000 babies have been born free of HIV, due to the support of the American people for programs to prevent mothers from passing the virus on to their children. And PEPFAR has supported a strategic sexual prevention portfolio which includes Abstinence, Be faithful, and correct and consistent use of Condoms, providing ABC prevention messages in hundreds of millions of encounters.

Today, President and Mrs. Bush participated in the Saddleback Civil Forum on Global Health.  At the event held on the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day, Pastor Rick Warren on behalf of the PEACE coalition presented the first International Medal of PEACE to President Bush.  The award was presented in recognition of the President’s unprecedented contribution to the fight against HIV/AIDS and other diseases.

For more information on these World AIDS Day announcements, please see resources below, also available on www.PEPFAR.gov:

• World AIDS Day, 2008, A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America
• President Bush Discusses World AIDS Day 
• President and Mrs. Bush Participate in Saddleback Civil Forum on Global Health
• White House Fact Sheet: World AIDS Day 2008
• World AIDS Day, 2008, Statement by Secretary Condoleezza Rice
• Celebrate Life: Latest PEPFAR Results
• Press Release: PEPFAR Fulfills Treatment and Care Commitments 
• Statement by Ambassador Mark Dybul on Worlds AIDS Day 2008

New UNAIDS Executive Director Announced

Today, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced that Mr. Michel Sidibe to serve as the next Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).  A statement from the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator is available at www.pepfar.gov/press/2008/112510.htm.