Eyes on the Prize Legislative & Policy Update (March 2006)
If you have questions or comments about Eyes on the Prize, including recommendations on issues you'd like to see covered (or don't ever want to read about again), please email Lisa at lschechtman@globalaidsalliance.org.
Thanks for reading. And thanks for all you do!In this edition of Eyes on the Prize:
Fiscal Year 2007 Budget
Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children Legislation
Pediatric Treatment
WHO Report on Treatment Access
Innovative Financing for Global AIDS and Education for All
Grassroots Conference Call April 4
Looking Ahead
Mark Your Calendar
Fiscal Year 2007 Budget
President Bush released his fiscal year 2007 budget request in February. While there were cuts from last year's funding levels to a number of important international health and development programs, including child survival and family planning, global HIV/AIDS programming received a funding increase. The President's budget request for HIV/AIDS went up to nearly $4 billion, almost $1 billion more than last year! This increase includes $2.8 billion for PEPFAR but only $300 million for the Global Fund. By contrast, last year the Global Fund received a total US contribution of $550 million.
While the House Budget Committee left the International Affairs Budget as it was in the President's budget, the Senate Budget Committee cut $2 billion from these essential international programs. Thankfully, Senators Santorum (R-PA) and Durbin (D-IL) introduced an amendment directing an additional $566 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, an amount greater than total US contribution in fiscal year 2006! The amendment passed on March 16! This means that the total US contribution proposed by the Senate for fiscal year 2007 is $866 million, more than we've ever contributed before. Thanks to your hard work, hundreds of phone calls, and lots of dedication, people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS have a better chance of accessing HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment services. Way to go!
As much as we wish this celebration meant that we had won the war, this is just one small battle that we fought successfully. The Santorum-Durbin Amendment was only passed by the Senate. This means that the Senate and House versions of the Foreign Operations budget for fiscal year 2007 are different, and the two versions will have to go to Conference to be merged by members of both chambers of Congress.
To make matters more challenging, Rep. Jeb Bradley (R-NH) really hurt us with his amendment to cut $795 million from the House version of the international affairs budget. Because his amendment passed, it will be harder for us to fully fund global AIDS programs. As of now, the Senate has requested a total of $33.52 billion, almost $1.6 billion less than the President. The House has requested $33.76 billion, $1.35 billion less than the President.
As the two versions of the budget go to Conference, we must work really hard to see that the important Santorum-Durbin amendment becomes law and that the US to actually contributes the full $866 million in fiscal year 2007. We need to be sure the Conferees understand just how much we all care about the Global Fund.
In addition, this amendment only brings US contribution to $866 million. While this would be the largest US contribution to date, it still falls short of the $1.2 billion the Global Fund will need in 2007 to renew its existing grants and approve new ones that will make real headway in the fight against AIDS, TB and malaria. This is why we still have work to do!
Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children Legislation
The Assistance for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children (OVC) in Developing Countries Act of 2005 was signed into law by the President on November 9, 2005. Since successfully seeing the legislation through Congress, GAA, along with Global Action for Children and children's and HIV/AIDS activists have been working for the law to be fully and effectively implemented.
One important aspect of the OVC Act is that it requires that 10% of US funding for global AIDS should be spent on programs for orphans and other vulnerable children. This 10% earmark was part of the 2003 Global AIDS law; its inclusion in the OVC Act requires the government to act on it a real way. GAA, GAC and OVC activists have been hard at work making sure that the 10% is applied to all global AIDS funding and not just to that dedicated to PEPFAR, so that orphans and other vulnerable children will have even more money from which to benefit.
The OVC Act requires the Administration to develop a comprehensive strategy for meeting the needs of orphans and other vulnerable children and establishes a Special Advisor for Orphans and Vulnerable Children to coordinate US government efforts to ensure maximum on-the-ground impact. That Special Advisor has yet to be appointed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Stay tuned for more information on the person she selects. Also, keep your eyes peeled for GAA action alerts regarding fiscal year 2007 funding for orphans and other vulnerable children, and around the 10% earmark. The world's kids are counting on you!
Pediatric Treatment
Following on the heels of new requirements that PEPFAR report on the prices of the HIV/AIDS drugs it uses, activists across the country have begun putting pressure on the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture these lifesaving drugs and control their pricing. Particular attention is being paid to two US-based pharmaceutical companies, Abbott Laboratories in Chicago and Gilead Sciences in the San Francisco area.
On March 13, President and Mrs. Bush announced a new public-private partnership for pediatric AIDS treatment. The partnership will promote development, production and distribution of pediatric antiretroviral (ARV) drugs and work specifically with generic drug manufacturers to reduce cost. Abbott Laboratories and Gilead Sciences are both private sector partners in this new initiative.
AIDS drug prices are particularly important for two reasons. First, a growing number of people who have been on HIV/AIDS drugs are now in need of newer, more powerful medicines. Known as second-line drugs, these medications remain extremely expensive, largely because there are no generic competitors for brand-name second-line antiretrovirals. Similarly, treatment for children with HIV/AIDS can cost as much as ten times the price of treating adults with first-line drugs. For example, children may require syrup formulations or medication in doses specific to their smaller bodies, which are often more expensive to manufacture. For more information on pediatric treatment, check out the article What Are We Waiting For? Children Need Treatment Now! Also see GAA's new advocacy brief, Children Left Behind: Global Stakeholders Failing to Adequately Prevent or Treat HIV/AIDS.
This new partnership between key pharmaceutical companies and the US government provides activists like us renewed opportunity to hold these companies accountable. GAA will keep you informed of upcoming activism opportunities, including direct actions at the companies' headquarters and shareholder activism at future shareholder meetings. We will also soon have postcards available that you can request, distribute to your friends and family, and then send directly to the companies themselves. Big business has a history of listening to consumers and shareholders. This is one campaign we can definitely win!
WHO Report on Treatment Access
On March 28 the World Health Organization (WHO) released a much-anticipated report looking at its successes—and failures—in reaching its goal of having three million people on treatment by 2005 (the 3x5 goal). The report indicates that 1.3 million people in low- and middle-income countries are on treatment, fewer than half the number at which WHO aimed.
The report reveals that the world is failing children. An estimated 660,000 children younger than 15 years needed treatment in 2005, representing slightly more than 10% of the total number of people in need. Yet the report states that children comprise only about 7% of all people receiving treatment in sub-Saharan Africa and about 4% in Asia. In Latin America and the Caribbean the median value of children receiving treatment in nine countries is 8% of all in need. The report also indicates a far-too-slow increase in access to prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT), stating that less than 10% of HIV-positive women in developing countries got antiretroviral therapy during pregnancy and childbirth between 2003 and 2005, despite a tripling of overall access to the drugs in that period. Click here to read the WHO report. Click here to read GAA's response.
Innovative Financing for Global AIDS and Education for All
In early 2006, GAA began a strong push for the establishment of an International Finance Facility to fund the Global Fund and the World Bank's Fast Track Initiative/Education for All (FTI/EFA) program. A GAA advocacy brief garnered high-level attention at a late-February meeting in Paris on Innovative Financing for international development.
On February 28, France and the UK announced their intent to cooperate on the launch of the International Finance Facility (IFF). The IFF would sell bonds on the international market, purchased initially with money donated by governments. The money earned from bond sales would then be put into the Global Fund and FTI/EFA. It is anticipated that the sale of the bonds would multiply the money initially invested, making donors' money go farther and saving countless more lives through provision of disease prevention and treatment, and access to basic education.
Activists in France and the UK can take this success all the way, by holding your governments accountable for doing the right thing! Letters to the editor, op/eds, and other public commentaries will keep President Chirac and Prime Minister Blair on track to fulfilling their promises to people in need around the world. Activists in the other G8 countries can take this opportunity to remind our own governments of their collective promises, and encourage them to follow the exciting leadership of France and the UK. And if you live in Africa or Asia you too can hold these powerful leaders to account by sending them letters, spreading the word in your community, and staying in touch with activists around the world.
To contact Tony Blair, click here.
To write to Jacques Chirac, click here and select "ecrire au president" on the left side of the page.
Grassroots Conference Call April 4
Please join GAA for a grassroots conference call to discuss the current status of the fiscal year 2007 budget. The call will take place on Tuesday, April 4, at 7:30 p.m. EST. To join the call, dial 1-800-244-9194, and then enter passcode 658520, followed by #. On the call will be GAA's Communications Director David Bryden and activists from across the country who are working with their representatives during the April 10-23 district work period. The call will last around 30 minutes. Please email grassroots@globalaidsalliance.org with questions. If you are outside the US and would like to join the call, please let us know and we will do our best to make it happen!
Looking Ahead
The budget cycle for fiscal year 2007 is about to enter the conference stage, when leaders from the House and Senate Budget Committees get together to sort out the differences in their versions of the budgets, and decide what stays and what goes. This is the perfect time for you to make your voices heard loud and clear! Once the Budget Conference Report is issued, Congress will start the process of actually appropriating the money. Appropriations is another chance for us to tell our representatives what really matters to their constituents. Wondering what you can do? Make an appointment to visit your members of Congress during their in-district work period, April 10-23.
Mark Your Calendar
Mark your calendars for "Africa Live: The Roll Back Malaria Concert," which premieres on PBS on Thursday, April 6, at 8:00 p.m. EST. For more information, click here. Please spread the word about the broadcast of "Africa Live: The Roll Back Malaria Concert" to friends and colleagues. (Check out the PBS website for listings in your area.) And be sure to tell your PBS station that you appreciate this program. We must encourage the media to cover public health issues!