Forwarded from the USCCB and CRS.
MILLIONS OF LIVES ARE AT STAKE:
SENATORS, MOVE THE GLOBAL AIDS BILL FORWARD
TAKE ACTION NOW!
Contact your Senators now (http://actioncenter.crs.org) and express your disappointment that they have not yet reached bipartisan consensus to move forward with the reauthorization of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Urge them to complete their work on PEPFAR when they return from the July 4th recess. Millions of lives are at stake!
WHY IS PROGRESS ON THE GLOBAL AIDS BILL STALLED?
Despite our many efforts to advocate for the Senate to complete its work on the bill to reauthorize PEPFAR, known as S. 2731, Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act, they failed to move the bill forward before recessing for the July 4th holiday. While the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) are disappointed that an agreement has not been finalized, we must now redouble our efforts to ensure that the Senate will find a bipartisan consensus and vote on the bill when they return from recess the week of July 7.
WHAT HAPPENS IF THE GLOBAL AIDS BILL DOESN’T MOVE FORWARD?
Millions of lives are at stake if the Senate fails to reauthorize PEPFAR this year. CRS, a major provider of HIV care, prevention and treatment in many of the poorest countries in the world, along with many other providers depends on the PEPFAR program to save millions of lives. Without a firm commitment to reauthorize PEPFAR, CRS and other providers cannot plan for future activities. The risk of suspending funding, however brief, could disrupt HIV treatment, undermine the credibility of healthcare institutions providing HIV services, and endanger lives.
WHAT HAS PEPFAR ACHIEVED SO FAR?
Because of PEPFAR, CRS has saved more than 115,000 lives through antiretroviral treatment and provides care and support services for another 175,000 HIV positive people. Men and women who were on the brink of death are now leading normal lives, caring for their children and contributing to their communities. More than 60,000 orphaned children are being cared for, going to school and embracing a bright future. Nearly 350,000 youth have been educated about risky behaviors and how abstinence-until-marriage and mutual fidelity within marriage are the most effective ways to prevent HIV infections. Visit the CRS Web site (http://crs.org/public-policy/hiv_aids.cfm) for more information.
WHAT DOES PEPFAR HAVE TO DO WITH MY FAITH?
Our faith as Catholics requires us to care for “the least of these” and to uphold the life and dignity of all people. People affected by HIV or suffering from AIDS need and deserve our love and care, just as Jesus called on us to care for those who are hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill. Catholic social teaching instructs us to live in solidarity with our brothers and sisters around the world. Pope Benedict XVI, in his World AIDS Day message in 2007 stated: “I wish to exhort all people of good will to increase their efforts to halt the spread of the HIV virus, to combat the disdain which is often directed towards people who are affected by it, and to care for the sick, especially those who are still children."
WHAT IS THE CHURCH’S POSITION ON PEPFAR?
The Catholic Church in the United States strongly supports moving forward with a PEPFAR bill that retains the program’s current focus on saving the lives of poor people affected by HIV and living with AIDS and continues to include provisions supporting a morally appropriate approach to combating the disease. Bishop Wenski, Bishop of Orlando and Chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on International Justice and Peace, reiterated the Church’s support for the PEPFAR program in a recent opinion editorial, stating: “Not only has PEPFAR saved lives, the world has seen in PEPFAR a true act of American compassion and leadership. This U.S. global initiative has also raised the bar for other donor countries to respond with generosity to the AIDS pandemic.”
For more information, contact
Tina Rodousakis, Grassroots Advocacy Manager, CRS, 410-951-7462, trodousa@crs.org
Gerry Flood, Counselor, International Justice and Peace, USCCB, 202-541-3167, gflood@usccb.org
