Protect international HIV funding

In today’s political climate of partisan gridlock, there are still some opportunities in which bipartisan cooperation can go a long way in helping to uplift the world community as a whole. Through continued support of the Global Fund, to which the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief is the largest donor, we can do just that.

PEPFAR, a bipartisan program initiated by President George W. Bush and continued under President Barack Obama, is vital in delivering programs that help prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS and providing both long- and short-term treatment for those already infected.

While working in Kenya with an organization that coordinated HIV/AIDS education programming, I saw firsthand how critical these programs are to saving lives and improving health outcomes, particularly for women.

I call on Rep. Andy Barr, Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, to continue saving lives for the cost of less than 1 percent of the federal budget by protecting funding for the Global Fund and other foreign aid programs in the 2017 budget cycle.

This story was originally published March 29, 2016 at 6:51 PM with the headline "Protect international HIV funding."