Jeff Fortenberry: “I rise in favor of the Pitts amendment. This amendment will save lives. The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief…”

“I rise in favor of the Pitts amendment. This amendment will save lives. The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, commonly known as PEPFAR, is the largest bilateral foreign assistance program dedicated to mitigating the HIV/ AIDS crisis worldwide. The plan places special emphasis on the 15 countries in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean which account for approximately 50 percent of the world's HIV infections. If the U.S. is to remain the world's leader in saving lives from the devastation of AIDS, it's time to look at the track record and see what works well. Demographic and health surveys show that HIV/AIDS prevalence rates in at least 7 of the 15 PEPFAR focus countries is declining. Countries such as Uganda, Zambia and Senegal have success stories to showcase and something to teach us. In these nations and others experiencing declines in the prevalence of HIV/AIDS, it is through indigenous programming that respects the local cultural milieu and social norms that figure prominently. In Uganda, for example, prevalence rates among pregnant women fell from approximately 20 percent in 1991 to 6 percent in the year 2000. Between 1991 and 1998, HIV prevalence rates among 15- to 19-year-olds fell by 75 percent, from approximately 21 percent to 5 percent.”