President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief

A United States government initiative announced by President George W. Bush in his 2003 State of the Union address and implemented through the State Department's Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator in partnership with USAID, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Defense and other agencies. It was, at launch, the largest commitment by any nation to address a single disease in history, funding antiretroviral treatment, HIV testing and counseling, prevention of mother-to-child transmission, and health-system strengthening in more than 50 countries, concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa. By the early 2020s, PEPFAR was credited with supporting antiretroviral treatment for more than 20 million people and with saving an estimated 25 million lives, while also drawing periodic congressional debate over funding levels, program conditions and reauthorization.