USA Today: In global fight against AIDS, children are ‘losing ground’
Charles Lyons, CEO of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation

“…Conquering AIDS has been a coordinated global effort in recent years, and it will take true commitment from global leaders, including the U.S., to move the needle on eliminating AIDS in children. … Ongoing progress and breakthroughs can meaningfully improve individual lives, keep mothers from losing their children, and help turn the tide of the epidemic — but only if we invest both resources and political will. The U.S. can and should lead the way. In October, a bipartisan group of U.S. members of Congress introduced a resolution recognizing the importance of a continued commitment to ending pediatric AIDS worldwide. Their words were never more important. By leaning into the fight against pediatric AIDS so that the world reverses its backslide and can meet global targets in 2020, the administration has the opportunity to usher in a success story greater than Supreme Court nominations, tax reform, or even health care reform. It is the opportunity to save lives, make good on promises made and welcome generation after generation into a world free of AIDS because of the actions we took today” (12/1).

HuffPost: Celebrate PEPFAR on World AIDS Day as We Rededicate Ourselves to Helping Children
Bill O’Keefe, vice president for advocacy at Catholic Relief Services

“…[O]n this World AIDS Day, let’s acknowledge that much remains to be done [in global efforts to end AIDS], particularly for children. Their access to life-saving medication has lagged far behind that of adults. And even if a child is not infected herself, HIV can still be devastating, wiping out a family’s finances, affecting every aspect of the household’s well-being. Much of PEPFAR’s success is rooted in the inspiration it gave to public health and development experts, as well as Congress, who began to imagine that maybe we could take on the challenge of this pandemic, that maybe everybody didn’t have to die. And that’s what we did, and we need to do it again. … We are proud to be a part of what we hope will be a breakthrough effort to ensure that the successes of PEPFAR are passed down to the next generation of children growing up in a world still affected by HIV and AIDS” (12/1).