amfAR Welcomes Increase in AIDS Research Funding and Calls for Expanded Investments in Global AIDS and Health Programs

Will Work With Administration and Congress to Increase Funding for Proven, Effective AIDS and Health Programs

For immediate release

Contact: Cub Barrett, Manager, Program Communications, (212) 806-1602, cub.barrett@amfar.org

(New York, February 1, 2010)—amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, on Monday welcomed proposed funding increases for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), while urging Congress to expand on these and other AIDS and health funding levels to meet the need.

The President’s proposed budget allocates $32.089 billion for the NIH, an increase of about $1 billion, or just about 3.2 percent, over the FY2010 budget.  Of this, $3.2 billion would be committed to HIV-related research.

“We are pleased to see proposed growth in NIH funding in such a tight budget year,” said Chris Collins, amfAR’s vice president and director of public policy. “NIH has been nearly flat funded for many years, forcing the Institutes to forgo investment in promising scientific opportunities. AIDS research is essential to ending the pandemic, and our country has an enormous interest in maintaining its global leadership on scientific research. We will work with Congress to make sure the final budget numbers provide additional AIDS and health research funding.”

In the global health arena, the Administration’s vision of a Global Health Initiative that will broaden and better integrate global health programming is very promising if it is adequately funded, said amfAR CEO Kevin Robert Frost. He added, though, that greater increases in global HIV/AIDS funding are necessary to continue urgently needed scale-up of HIV/AIDS services.

“This year 2.7 million people will be newly infected with HIV, adding to the 33 million who are already living with HIV around the world,” Frost said. “The modest proposed budget increase in global HIV/AIDS programs fail to reach Congressional authorization levels and do not keep pace with the growing pandemic. We’ve seen huge returns on our investments in AIDS and global health, which advance both our diplomatic and security goals. These investments make as much sense in this budget year as in any.”

About amfAR
amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, is one of the world’s leading nonprofit organizations dedicated to the support of AIDS research, HIV prevention, treatment education, and the advocacy of sound AIDS-related public policy. Since 1985, amfAR has invested nearly $307 million in its programs and has awarded grants to more than 2,000 research teams worldwide.