The World Health Organization (WHO) today warmly welcomed the United States’ proposal to commit a further $30 billion to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and extend the Plan for another five years.
“We are very encouraged by this announcement,” said the WHO Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan. “It is essential that world leaders continue to work together to ensure long-term predictable funding for health priorities. Many millions of lives depend on this.”
WHO is committed to continue working closely with the United States Government and other partners to help ensure progress towards universal access. This includes building on current cooperation around initiatives such as the WHO programme to address critical human resource needs, increasing access to HIV testing and counselling, and scaling up integrated treatment and prevention services. Efforts to develop joint TB and HIV programme approaches and to control the emerging threat of drug-resistant TB are also a priority.