15+ Years of PEPFAR | Taking it Forward (2014+), Ambassador-at-Large, Deborah Birx

October 7, 2019

Taking it Forward (2014+ )

Ambassador-at-Large, Deborah L. Birx, Coordinator of the United States Government Activities to Combat HIV/AIDS and U.S. Special Representative for Global Health

Moderated by: Kenneth H. Mayer, Medical Research Director and Co-Chair of The Fenway Institute and Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Closing Remarks:
Bruce Walker, Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Director, Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard University

Description
In May 2003, the U.S. Congress passed bipartisan legislation authorizing a bold new plan to combat a fast-spreading, deadly epidemic. In the 15+ years since, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief - widely referred to as PEPFAR - has become the largest global health program focused on a single disease in history. Investing over $80 billion in HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention and research, PEPFAR has saved millions of lives and put 14 million people on treatment.

On October 7, 2019, the Harvard Global Health Institute hosted a one-day symposium that explored what enabled this visionary program, and showcasing how it has transformed not just the worldwide HIV/AIDS response but global health delivery more broadly.

There are many lessons learned in PEPFAR’s story - from what it took to build a supply chain where there was none, to establishing the use of generic antiretroviral therapies (ARTs) and leveraging human capacity. This event convened the early architects of PEPFAR as well as experts and implementers currently leading the charge. We took a historically informed look at what it will take to stop global transmission, and shared tools useful for others hoping to move the needle on vexing problems in global health.

This event was free and open to the public.

This event was cosponsored by the Harvard Global Health Institute, the Harvard University Center for AIDS Research, the Center for Health Law Policy and Innovation at Harvard Law School, and the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School.