HIV Development Assistance and Adult Mortality in Africa

Abstract

The United States' financial commitment to health improvement in poor countries is at an all-time high. From just over $1 billion dollars in 2000, the US budget for global health in 2009 topped $8.3 billion.^1-3 The majority of this increase was directed assistance for disease-specific initiatives such as the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI), and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.^1,3 The largest among these, PEPFAR, targeted the rapidly expanding HIV epidemic with a coordinated effort to increase human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) treatment, prevention, and care in 15 focus countries (3 non-African focus countries are not addressed in this analysis). PEPFAR scaled up the delivery of expanded antiretroviral therapy (ART) and supported large-scale prevention efforts.^4-7