By 2003, highly active antiretroviral therapy (ART) had transformed AIDS from a fatal illness into a chronic, manageable condition in industrialized countries. But in sub-Saharan Africa, home to 70% of the global population of people living with HIV, fewer than 50,000 of the estimated 27 million people living with HIV had access to ART, which resulted in a staggering 10- to 20-year drop in life expectancy and millions of infants with HIV dying within 1 year after birth.1
To address the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa, U.S. President George W. Bush announced the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in 2003. Congress swiftly authorized $15 billion as part of the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act.
