Girls hold U.S. and Kenyan flags as they wait to greet U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Robert Godec as he visits a President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief project for girls’ empowerment in early March in Nairobi, Kenya. Two Catholic leaders Oct. 15 applauded congressional reauthorization of PEPFAR, opening the door for final passage of a bill to keep the program in place for another five years. (CNS photo/Jonathan Ernst, Reuters)
WASHINGTON (CNS) — Two Catholic leaders applauded congressional committees for reauthorizing the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, opening the door for final passage of a bill to keep the program in place for another five years.
Citing how the 15-year-old program has saved millions of lives around the world and prevented millions of new infections, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace, and Sean Callahan, president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services, said in a statement Oct. 15 the program ensures U.S. leadership in the campaign against HIV, AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
Funds under the program, known as PEPFAR, support numerous services such as providing free antiretroviral medicines for eligible patients, support for families devastated by AIDS, after-school programs for children whose parents died from the disease and their caregivers, transportation for health services and counseling.
