PEPFAR

by Cory Harrison

I

t’s not an acronym I had ever heard until a couple of weeks ago. I was reading an article by Cameron Strang when I first came upon it.

Strang’s story starts with the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day. On December 1, 2008, Pastor Rick Warren hosted a Saddleback Civil Forum on Global Health. In attendance were leaders from various non-profit groups and faith leaders, with the guest of honor President George W. Bush. It was at this event that President Bush received the International Medal of PEACE from the Global PEACE coalition.

I found it very strange that President Bush received a Medal of PEACE.

As he placed the medal around the neck of the President, Pastor Warren said: “No man in history, no world leader, has done more for global health that George W. Bush.”

Strang notes, “For many people, that’s not what first comes to mind when they think about President Bush’s administration, but the long-term ramifications of his global health efforts cannot be understated.”
How can this be, I wondered?

In 2003 in the State of the Union address, Bush announced the formation of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). It is noted that at the time of this announcement, only 50,000 people living with AIDS in Africa were able to receive anti-retroviral drugs. PEPFAR set the ambitious goal of increasing that number to 2 million within 5 years. That goal has been exceeded.

Further, 2 million people have now been treated and another 8 million have not contracted the disease, who otherwise would have. To my understanding that totals 10 million lives saved - 4 million of which are orphans due to their parents death from AIDS.

In accepting the award, President Bush said: “A president must have a firm set of principals from which he will not deviate. I believe in the universality of freedom, and I believe freedom is universal because of an almighty God. It’s not just freedom from tyranny that the U.S. must become involved in, I believe it’s freedom from disease, freedom from hunger, freedom from deprivation. If you believe in the universality of freedom, then you should not shy away from doing your duty.”

With our recent election in the U.S. focusing on solely on the idea of “change”, I hope this is one thing our new President will not change course on.

Strang closes his article with these words: “As we look at these closing weeks of the Bush administration, it’s easy to see the challenges our country is facing and forget a monumental, positive initiative like PEPFAR. I want to publicly applaud President Bush for taking a stand when others hadn’t, and doing so without the motive of political benefit. He has stood up for those who have no voice, and he did so because it was the right thing to do.”

I agree.

Writer: Sergeant Cory Harrison is a life long Salvationist stirred by the mission of The Salvation Army. Cory spends his days enjoying coffee and community with the poor, oppressed and addicted as the administrator of the downtown St. Petersburg, FL, USA Corps and Café 614.

5 Comments to PEPFAR

1. Thanks, Cory. I’ve always admired President Bush’s unwavering stance on issues like aid to Africa. It’s common in Darfur for mothers to name their sons “George Bush” because of the administration’s response to the crisis there. And, while many love to hate the man and pin the blame on him from everything from global warming to the failing world economy, there are many areas of the world where he’ll be missed. Check out this article:

   http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7821449.stm

   Bush has repeatedly declared that he is content to let history judge him. I think that, once it has, there’ll be a pretty big swing in a positive direction, much like other presidents who were unpopular during their presidency.
Phil on January 20th, 2009

2. Actually, the new President did praise Bush’s efforts in this - and the monies did have to get approved by Congress… He also called for more attention to those with HIV in the US, by the last information I had about 50% of those who should be receiving ARV therapy in the US are not because their medical insurance won’t cover it and the costs in US haven’t been lowered like they (thankfully) have in Africa, India, and other lower-income countries.
Maureen on January 20th, 2009

3. I want to note that by putting this piece on therubicon, I am in no way ignoring the fact that their have been (in my opinion) big mistakes by this American administration. The creation of PEPFAR does not justify any other action. It only stands to show a bright light in the midst of what is often viewed, and sometimes rightly so, a dark time in American history. Trust me, I have done my due diligence in pointing out all the things I felt were wrong over the last few years. This was a reminder to me not to just look at the negative but to also search for the good.
Cory Harrison on January 20th, 2009

4. WOW, now you have really ticked me off (not really)!
   So i woke at 3am to watch the outgoing President go out and the incoming President come in.
   I sat with jubilation in my heart for not only had America broken the chains of injustice and righted a history of wrongs with their overwhelming vote of confidence in a black President in Obama but finally, finally we were seeing an end to the deceptive, heavy handed, small minded leadership of surely America’s worst ever President…
   Then YOU came along with your blog…
   NOW Cory, thanks to you, i have a feeling of appreciation for George. Yes he lied about going to war with Iraq, yes he held men and a 14yo child (who were likely tortured) without charge in an inhumane prison camp, yes he turned his back on process and went alone, taking on the world but now i have realised that maybe he wasn’t ALL bad.
   Those AIDS figures are just astounding. Praise God for the 10 million lives saved.
   So there you have it… about 20 hours after i watched with delight and anticipation as his rule ended i find myself for the first time in 8 years actually smiling when thinking of George W. Bush… And i have you to blame!
christopher johnson on January 21st, 2009

5. I’m really not interested in having yet another argument about the former President. I hope those who label themselves liberals are able to have enough hindsight to not blame him for everything that may go wrong in the next> 4-8 years.

   Chris, your statements aren’t accurate. Surely you don’t mean to say you believe President Bush gave an order to torture an infant. And if you believe that he lied about Iraq, you’ll have to say that most of the nation’s intelligence community, along with an overwhelming majority of Congress lied as well. As far as going it alone is concerned, remember that there are several resolutions that were passed by the United Nations authorizing the use of force if Saddam did not comply. Don’t forget about the coalition that went into Iraq and Afghanistan with us, the thousands of men and women from other countries in support of the war.

   I’m proud of my country for electing its first black President. Time will tell whether or not he is a good President. I am wondering how long the honeymoon will last between Barack, the media and the country in general. I hope he does well, for everyone’s sake.
Phil on January 21st, 2009

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