Budget axe’s blow to Africa
Things are tough all over, but it’s a particularly tough time to be an African with HIV/AIDS. If you’re receiving lifesaving antiretroviral therapy, there’s a decent chance you won’t be able to continue treatment to keep yourself alive. If you’re not receiving antiretroviral therapy already, there’s an even better chance that you’ll never get treatment. And if you’re one of the 225 million African adults who are HIV-negative and at risk of acquiring HIV/AIDS? Sorry. Even funding for prevention, which we all agree is an excellent, high-return investment, is facing the axe.
If approved, the proposed FY 2011 continuing resolution (CR), now in the Senate, will mean the end of many lifesaving health care and development projects. Unlike postponing the upgrade of a highway or freezing the salaries of federal employees, cutting funds for global health will directly contribute to people’s deaths, including many who could otherwise be saved.
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