Lives at Stake: amfAR Analysis Shows Potential Human Impact  of Cutting Global Health Funding

Analysis of proposed budget cuts shows potential for an increase of 32,650 infant HIV infections each year and millions fewer people treated for malaria

For Immediate Release

Media Contact:
Cub Barrett, Program Communications Manager
(212) 806-1602

NEW YORK, February 17, 2011—If a fiscal plan championed by leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives is enacted, the potential human impact would be severe and lasting, according to a new analysis by amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research.

The plan, announced in September by House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and outlined in the House Republicans’ “Pledge to America,” is consistent with the significant cuts now being debated by the House of Representatives as part of the FY2011 Continuing Resolution. 

U.S. investments in global health account for only one-quarter of one percent of the U.S. budget and save millions of lives each year. These global health programs advance American security, diplomatic, and humanitarian objectives with great efficiency and at very low cost.

According to the new analysis, the proposed cuts would have a devastating effect on people around the world.  Annually, according to the analysis:

• 32,650 more infants could be infected with HIV due to reductions in services to combat mother-to-child transmission;
• 487,514 orphans and vulnerable children could lose their food, education, and livelihood assistance;
• funding for AIDS treatment for 315,413 people would be eliminated;
• almost 15 million fewer people would be treated for malaria; and
• 143,314 fewer people with tuberculosis (TB) and 1,440 fewer people with multidrug-resistant TB would receive lifesaving treatment.

“It is critical to understand the tragic potential human impact of what the House leadership is proposing,” said amfAR CEO Kevin Robert Frost. “As this analysis shows, the effect on the lives of hundreds of thousands of children, women, and men would be truly devastating.”

 “Funding cuts of this magnitude threaten to decimate our efforts to prevent HIV infection globally and could lead to a surge in the number of people denied access to lifesaving AIDS treatment,” said Chris Collins, amfAR’s vice president and director of public policy. “We are now in a position to change the trajectory of the AIDS epidemic, both at home and globally. This is the time to invest in, not shortchange, proven lifesaving programs.”

View the full report, “The Impact of Reducing Global Health Funding to FY2008 Funding Levels: Projecting the Human Cost”

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 $325 million in its programs and has awarded grants to more than 2,000 research teams worldwide.