About the Author: Ambassador Eric Goosby serves as U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and leads the Office of Global Health Diplomacy.

“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.” — Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa

The impact of HIV and AIDS on children is devastating. To date, an estimated 16 million children have lost one or both parents due to AIDS, 90 percent of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa. And despite dramatic advances in treatment this number is not yet declining . In addition, an estimated 3.4 million children under the age of 15 are living with HIV, and millions more children are made vulnerable due to chronically ill parents or the social and economic effects of living in communities with high HIV prevalence.

These numbers clearly demonstrate how vulnerable children are to the social, emotional, economic, and environmental effects that… more »

About the Author: Ambassador Eric Goosby serves as U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and head of the Office of Global Health Diplomacy.

2012 was an extraordinary year.

As of September 30, 2012, PEPFAR directly supported lifesaving antiretroviral treatment (ART) for nearly 5.1 million people — a nearly three-fold increase since 2008. PEPFAR also supported drugs to prevent mother-to-child transmission for nearly 750,000 HIV-positive women in 2012 alone, allowing approximately 230,000 infants to be born HIV-free, and HIV testing and counseling for more than 46.5 million people over the same time period.

These are not just statistics but they represent lives saved, and hope renewed for millions of families and communities. A decade ago, almost no one in Africa was receiving treatment. Today, over 8 million men, women, and children in developing countries are on ART, with the vast majority of… more »

About the Author: Ambassador Eric Goosby serves as U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator. Ambassador Goosby also leads the new Office of Global Health Diplomacy at the U.S. Department of State.

I was honored to be asked by Secretary Clinton to lead the new Office of Global Health Diplomacy. I am proud to serve my country in this capacity while also remaining the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator. I am equally delighted that a skilled and seasoned diplomat like Ambassador Leslie Rowe has agreed to join me in establishing the new Global Health Diplomacy Office in the State Department. We have seen first-hand in countries around the world that America’s investments in global health not only improve and save lives, they build stronger families, communities and nations and contribute to economic growth. And stronger and more stable nations abroad mean a stronger and more stable America.

Increasingly, our investments are also enabling countries to build the health systems they need to provide care… more »

About the Author: Ambassador Eric Goosby serves as U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator.

Success motivates action. All of us are much more willing to continue to invest in something that has produced results than in something that hasn’t.

As we approach World AIDS Day, we now have a tremendous track record of success from U.S. investments in fighting global AIDS. A decade ago, an HIV diagnosis in Africa was essentially a death sentence. Today, through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the American people support nearly 5.1 million people on antiretroviral treatment. That treatment is the difference between life and death, allowing people to continue to raise and provide for their families — and build their nations.

Seeking to build on this success, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called for PEPFAR to develop what she called a “Blueprint for an AIDS-Free Generation.” She asked us to provide the next Congress,… more »

About the Author: Ambassador Eric Goosby serves as U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator.

Today at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York, Secretary Clinton spoke of the shared responsibility of the world to defeat HIV/AIDS. At an event organized by African Union President Yayi of Benin, she highlighted growing African leadership against the disease — an encouraging development as we pursue the goal of an AIDS-free generation.

Secretary Clinton saluted African countries that are leading the way in meeting this shared responsibility. Some examples:

· Namibia now funds 50 percent of its national AIDS response, and is paying and overseeing a growing number of health workers formerly supported by the United States through our PEPFAR program. 

· Under the Partnership Framework Implementation Plan it recently signed with the United… more »

Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
September 27, 2012

Ambassador Eric Goosby, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, will host the third meeting of the Scientific Advisory Board of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) October 2-3.

The meeting will take place at the House of Sweden Event Center, 2900 K Street, NW, Washington, D.C. The meeting will run from 9 a.m. until approximately 5 p.m. October 2, and from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. October 3. It is open to the press and to the public on a space-limited basis.

The Board serves the Global AIDS Coordinator in an advisory capacity concerning scientific, implementation, and policy issues related to the global HIV/AIDS response. These issues inform the priorities and direction of PEPFAR evaluation and research, the content of national and international strategies and their implementation, and the role of PEPFAR in the international discourse regarding appropriate and resourced responses.

Agenda topics for the meeting include: an update on PEPFAR-funded combination prevention evaluations, discussion about key populations, and recommendations to PEPFAR on issues related to linkage and retention of patients in the care and treatment cascade.

The public may attend this meeting as seating capacity allows. Admittance to the meeting will be by means of a pre-arranged clearance list. In order to be placed on the list, please register by sending your name, title, organization/affiliation, and contact information to SABRegistration@s-3.com. While the meeting is open to public attendance, the Board will determine procedures for public participation and announce those procedures at the meeting.

For further information, contact Megan Wolf at the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator at (202) 663-2440 orWolfMN@state.gov.

About the Author: Ambassador Eric Goosby serves as U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator.

This week at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, world leaders are coming together to move the world’s health and development agenda forward.

Among the key agenda items is securing a better future for children — which is also a central focus of the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Meeting the needs of children, including both children living with HIV and those affected by the disease in other ways, is not peripheral to PEPFAR’s mission — it is central.

The reality is that PEPFAR is the largest contributor to the global response to the needs of vulnerable children affected by AIDS. It’s a responsibility, and an opportunity as part of our push toward an AIDS-free generation.

But what does achieving an AIDS-free… more »

About the Author: Ambassador Eric Goosby serves as U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator.

Recently, I met with my fellow Global Fund Board members in Geneva and I am buoyed by the reform that is happening at the Fund under the leadership of new General Manager Gabriel Jaramillo. As everyone knows, the United States has been pushing aggressively for reform, linking our historic pledge of $4 billion from FY 2011 — 2013 to it. I am pleased to report that while we have been encouraged by the significant reforms the Fund has been pursuing over the past year, the pace of reform has now quickened — meaning that the Fund will be able to save even more lives.

The Fund remains absolutely committed to ensuring the disbursement of approximately $10 billion in its current funding period, 2011-2013 — $2 billion more than it disbursed between 2008 and 2010. This includes money for new,… more »

About the Author: Ambassador Eric Goosby serves as the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator.

This week in Johannesburg, South Africa, PEPFAR is convening its annual meeting. U.S. Government global health leaders and staff are working together to identify opportunities to build on the impressive achievements our programs have made so far. Throughout the week here on Dipnote, I am providing updates on our collaboration to further our vision of partnership, efficiency, and innovation for sustained impact through PEPFAR.

As we wrap up this year’s meeting in Johannesburg, today we have focused on what we can do to advance the vision of shared responsibility at the country level. As I have described, we are working to reach the point where… more »

About the Author: Ambassador Eric Goosby serves as the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator.

This week I am traveling in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a country that, while facing many challenges, is home to families who are seeking to build a better future. Health is an important part of a better future for the DRC, and preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) is a key example of a health care service that can strengthen families and communities.

PMTCT provides a triple benefit: in addition to preventing an infant from being infected with HIV, a program can also provide antiretroviral treatment to keep the mother alive, which in turn prevents her other children from being orphaned. So PMTCT is a smart investment — it has an impressive impact, and is strikingly cost-effective as well.

Led by the U.S. through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the world has made dramatic progress on PMTCT over… more »