Reauthorise PEPFAR to prevent death, orphanhood, and suffering for millions of children

Since PEPFAR's implementation, AIDS deaths in infants and young children have fallen by 80% (figure D). PEPFAR's direct effects extend further to the reduction of subsequent negative outcomes on children's lives, such as avoidance of HIV-related developmental delays, family breakdown and separation, abuse and mental health distress, and reduction of poverty-driven sexual exploitation of children. Abrupt halting of development aid can cause health system collapses.6 PEPFAR, the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, national governments, and donors such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are a crucial partnership for global health security.7 In 2022, PEPFAR provided life-saving antiretroviral medication to 20 million people8—most of them parents and children.