An Open Letter to President Biden: U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief

SisterLove has joined over 80 organizations to pen this letter to President Biden regarding the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). We are demanding action on the appointment of the Ambassador of the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator (OGAC). Read below to see where we stand.

July 14, 2021

President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW

Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Biden:

We are writing today as civil society organizations from around the world out of grave concern for your Administration’s continued delays in appointing a U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, the leader of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

This decision is causing great harm to the AIDS response globally and in our countries, and is being seen as a deprioritization of the AIDS crisis by your Administration. This is unacceptable, particularly during a time of the dueling pandemics of HIV and COVID-19.

The need for an accomplished global leader nominated for a permanent appointment with the political and technical expertise to lead your Administration’s efforts to defeat HIV as a public health threat has never been greater. As global partners that have worked with the program shoulder to shoulder since its inception we are calling on you to fulfil the promises of bold leadership and engagement that your Administration so eloquently spoke of at the UN High Level meeting on HIV.

We are astonished that, after committing publicly during your candidacy to prioritize the fight against global AIDS, you have taken your eye off the ball. This is harming the responses both to HIV and to COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic is sending shockwaves through our communities, with devastating consequences for HIV treatment and prevention access, particularly for criminalized, marginalized and vulnerable populations.

Meanwhile the powerful lessons of PEPFAR in how to deploy U.S. government funding to save millions of lives are sorely needed amidst the COVID-19 crisis. Without a bold and ambitious leader at the head of the U.S. global AIDS response, both efforts will be undermined. The Administration’s global health security priorities must not be pitted against the global AIDS response — that is a misguided strategy that does not serve either goal.

That is why we are humbly requesting you to immediately appoint a bold, creative, and qualified leader as Ambassador of Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator OGAC, and to ensure the Biden-Harris Administration builds on the commitment by prior administrations to ensure that whoever holds this position has the authority required to succeed.

Sincerely,

Pan Africa ILGA (PAI)

Development Agenda for Girls and Women in Africa Network (DAWA)

Africa Sex Workers’ Alliance (ASWA)

Access Care Treatment and Support (ACTS), Ghana

Advocacy Core Team, Zimbabwe

APCOM (Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health), Thailand

Bar Hostesses Empowerment and Support Group (BHESP), Kenya

Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV/AIDS (BONELA), Botswana

Busia Survivors, Kenya

Coalition of Women living with HIV/AIDS (COWHLA), Malawi

Coalition for Health Promotion and Social Development (HEPS UGANDA), Uganda

Coast Sex Workers’ Alliance (COSWA), Kenya

Community Health Rights Advocacy (CHeRA), Malawi

Dandora Community AIDS Support Association, Kenya

Empower, Cameroon

Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK)

Health Development Consultancy Services Cameroon (HEDECS), Cameroon

Highlighting Equitable Access to Rights (HEAR), Nigeria

International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC)

Ishtar MSM, Kenya

Kenya Legal & Ethical Issues Network on HIV & AIDS (KELIN), Kenya

Kenya Sex Workers’ Alliance (KESWA)

Key Population Consortium of Kenya

Lean on Me Foundation, Kenya

Lesbian Intersex Trans and other Extensions (LITE), Malawi

Minority Persons Empowerment Program (MPEG), Kenya

Mozambique treatment Access Movement (MATRAM), Mozambique

Nairobi Outreach Services Trust (NOSET), Kenya

National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS (NAPWA), South Africa

Network of Journalists Living with HIV (JONEHA), Malawi

Pamoja TB Group, Kenya

The People’s Matrix, Lesotho

Positive Action Campaign, South Africa

Positive Women’s Network, South Africa

Q-Initiative, Kenya

Ritshidze, South Africa

Responsive Action for Visible Empowerment (RAVE), Nigeria

Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), Uganda

SisterLove International South Africa

South African Network of Religious Leaders Living with HIV/AIDS (SANERELA+), South Africa

Swaziland Network of Young Positives (SNP+), Eswatini

SWOP Ambassadors, Kenya

TB Proof, South Africa

​​Tamba Pwani, Kenya

Tanzania AIDS Forum, Tanzania

Tanzania Network of Women Living with HIV and AIDS, Tanzania

Thriving Inclusive Community Organisation (TICO), Rwanda

Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), South Africa

Uganda Key Populations Consortium (UKPC), Uganda

Uganda Network of AIDS Service Organisations (UNASO), Uganda

Umzingwane AIDS Network (UAN), Zimbabwe

Vietnam Network of People Living with HIV (VNP+), Vietnam

Voice of our Voices (VOOV), Lesotho

Wings To Transcend, Namibia

Women Fighting AIDS in Kenya (WOFAK), Kenya

Wote Youth Development Projects, Kenya

Youth Engage, Zimbabwe

Zambia Tuberculosis and Leprosy Trust (ZATULET), Zambia

Zimbabwean Community Health Intervention Research Project (ZiCHIRe-BC), Zimbabwe

African Services Committee, US

ATHENA Network, Global

AVAC, Global

CHANGE, Global

Coalition Plus International

Global Black Gay Men Connect (GBGMC), Global

Global Network of Young People Living with HIV (Y+ Global)

Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+)

Health GAP, Global

International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC), Global

SisterLove Inc, USA

Treatment Action Group, United States

WomenNOW! Network, Global

CC:

The Honorable Antony John Blinken, United States Secretary of State

Linda Etim, Senior Director for Development, Global Health, and Humanitarian

Response, National Security Council

Catherine M. Russell, Director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office

Ron Klain, Chief of Staff to the President of the United States

Gayle Smith, Coordinator of the Global COVID response and Health Security

Loyce Pace, Director, Office of Global Affairs, Department of Health & Human Services

Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institutes of Health

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