Twenty years ago, on January 28, 2003, President George W. Bush announced a program to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean that would change the world. The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was, and remains, the largest disease-specific global health program in history, and this century’s most successful effort to end a plague, says activist and author Emily Bass. But on its twentieth anniversary, she is concerned for PEPFAR’s future.
Also in our PEPFAR special series this week, David P. Fidler argues that although the stars aligned to produce PEPFAR, a new plan modeled on it—the President’s Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience (PREPARE) to manage the effects of climate change—is unlikely to see the same success.
We interview Quarraisha Abdool Karim, South African infectious diseases epidemiologist and UNAIDS ambassador for adolescents and HIV, on the arc of HIV/AIDS-fighting efforts in her home country. Karim Abdool also discusses her research and leadership over the past thirty-four years, which has focused on the evolving HIV epidemic and HIV infection in young women.
In the fourth piece in our homage to PEPFAR, Ambassador Mark P. Lagon discusses the challenges PEPFAR faces in a world where democracy is on the decline.
Finally, we look to the annual executive board meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO) next week. It will be the first of many consequential calendar moments for global health governance in 2023, writes Kate Dodson, vice president for global health at the UN Foundation, who highlights some of the topics getting attention ahead of the gathering.
As always, thank you for reading.—Thomas J. Bollyky and Mary Brophy Marcus, Editors
