U.S. House Passes Augmented PEPFAR Program

On Wednesday the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill by a vote of 308-116 to expand PEPFAR, the President's Emergency Program for AIDS Relief, from $30 billion over the next 5 years to $50 billion.

Earlier, according to the Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report The House Rules Committee had approved a number of amendments to H.R. 5501:

• Add Lesotho, Malawi and Swaziland as PEPFAR focus countries;
• Include clean water programs in the program;
• Encourage countries to work with historically black colleges to improve their health infrastructures; and
• Expand inspector general authority

In the United States Senate, the companion bill currently contains legislation to repeal the current travel ban by HIV+ people to the United States. Blogger Joe.My.God has excellent coverage of why such a repeal is necessary with a story about how an HIV+ Canadian man was treated inhumanely just a few months ago.