(WASHINGTON, D.C.) –U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) and Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA), along with 38 other lawmakers, sent a letter to President Obama calling on the Administration to announce a doubling of the number of people on treatment through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) during the Fourth Replenishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria scheduled to take place in Washington, D.C., in December.

“We applaud the Administration’s achievement of increasing the number of people on treatment supported by PEPFAR to 6 million, and the recent announcement of 1 million babies globally born HIV-free thanks to PEPFAR support,” they write.  “To build on this success, we urge you to set a new, bold PEPFAR goal of 12 million people on treatment by the end of fiscal year 2016…. At this critical juncture, scaling up to capitalize on scientific advances, while expanding deployment of proven-effective prevention tools that are already available to us, will not only save millions of lives but will also significantly reduce human suffering, new HIV infections, and healthcare costs in the years to come.”

PEPFAR, a bipartisan program established in 2003, has treated and cared for millions of individuals facing HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria across the world.

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