15+ Years of PEPFAR

How U.S. Action on HIV/AIDS Has Changed Global Health
Couldn’t join us for the event? Check out some of the speakers’ slide presentations and blog posts!
Description
In May 2003, the U.S. Congress passed bipartisan legislation authorizing a bold new plan to combat a fast-spreading, deadly epidemic. In the 15+ years since, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief – widely referred to as PEPFAR – has become the largest global health program focused on a single disease in history. Investing over $80 billion in HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention and research, PEPFAR has saved millions of lives and put 14 million people on treatment.
On October 7, 2019, the Harvard Global Health Institute hosted a one-day symposium that explored what enabled this visionary program, and showcasing how it has transformed not just the worldwide HIV/AIDS response but global health delivery more broadly.
There are many lessons learned in PEPFAR’s story – from what it took to build a supply chain where there was none, to establishing the use of generic antiretroviral therapies (ARTs) and leveraging human capacity. This event convened the early architects of PEPFAR as well as experts and implementers currently leading the charge. We took a historically informed look at what it will take to stop global transmission, and shared tools useful for others hoping to move the needle on vexing problems in global health.
This event was free and open to the public.
This event was cosponsored by the Harvard Global Health Institute, the Harvard University Center for AIDS Research, the Center for Health Law Policy and Innovation at Harvard Law School, and the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School.
Featured Speakers
- Ambassador-at-Large, Deborah L. Birx, Coordinator of the United States Government Activities to Combat HIV/AIDS and U.S. Special Representative for Global Health
- Anthony S. Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID)
- The Hon. Mark Dybul, Faculty Co-Director of the Center for Global Health and Quality and Professor in the Department of Medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center
Agenda
8:30 – 9:00am, Registration
9:00 – 9:15am, Welcome Remarks
- Ashish K. Jha, Faculty Director, Harvard Global Health Institute and K. T. Li Professor and Dean for Global Strategy at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health
- Mark C. Elliott, Vice Provost for International Affairs and Mark Schwartz Professor of Chinese and Inner Asian History, Harvard University
- I. Glenn Cohen, James A. Attwood and Leslie Williams Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics, Harvard Law School
9:15 – 10:15am, 15+ Years, 50 Countries, 17 Million Lives Saved: How We Got Here.
- Anthony S. Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID)
- Moderator: Ingrid Katz, Associate Faculty Director, Harvard Global Health Institute and Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
10:15 – 11:00am, The Early Years (2003 – 2009): A New Epidemic That Requires New Approaches
- The Hon. Mark Dybul, Faculty Co-Director of the Center for Global Health and Quality and Professor in the Department of Medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center
11:00 – 11:15am, Break
11:15am – 12:45pm, Lessons Learned I: International Perspectives
- Prosper Okonkwo, Chief Executive Officer, APIN Public Health Initiatives, Nigeria and Research Associate, Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health
- Maureen Luba, African Region Advocacy Advisor for AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC), Malawi and 2019 Jane Jie Sun Women in Global Health LEAD Fellow, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health
- Nzovu Ulenga, Health Systems Strengthening and Strategic Information, Management and Development for Health (MDH), Tanzania and Collaborator, PPIUD Project in the Department of Global Health and Population in Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Tanzania, Harvard University
- Nduku Kilonzo, Executive Director, National Aids Control Council, Kenya (via video-conferencing)
- Moderator: Roger I. Glass, Director, Fogarty International Center & Associate Director for International Research, National Institutes of Health
12:45 – 1:30pm, Lunch Break
1:30 – 2:00pm, Diving Deeper (2009 to 2013): From an Emergency Response to Local Ownership and Systems Strengthening
- Charles Holmes, Faculty Co-Director, Center for Global Health and Quality, Georgetown University and former Chief Medical Officer and Deputy U.S. Global Health Coordinator for PEPFAR
2:00 – 3:30pm, Lessons Learned II: Getting to Zero
- Phyllis Kanki, Mary Woodward Lasker Professor of Health Sciences, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health
- Robert Greenwald, Clinical Professor of Law and Faculty Director, Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation; Health Law and Policy Clinic, Harvard Law School
- Shahin Lockman, Associate Director, Center for AIDS Research (CFAR), Harvard University and Associate Professor in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Disease, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health
- Moderator: Maureen Goodenow, NIH Associate Director for AIDS Research and Director of the NIH Office of AIDS Research
3:30 – 3:45pm, Break
3:45 – 4:45pm, Taking it Forward (2014+)
- Ambassador-at-Large, Deborah L. Birx, Coordinator of the United States Government Activities to Combat HIV/AIDS and U.S. Special Representative for Global Health
- Moderated by: Kenneth H. Mayer, Medical Research Director and Co-Chair of The Fenway Institute and Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
4:45 – 5:00pm, Closing Remarks
- Bruce Walker, Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Director, Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard University
5:00 – 6:00pm, Poster Session and Reception
Learn More
Slides
- Anthony S. Fauci, “The Birth of PEPFAR”
- Charles Holmes, “2009-2013 From and Emergency Response to Local Ownership and Systems Strengthening”
- Phyllis J. Kanki, “15+ Years of PEPFAR: Getting to Zero”
- Shahin Lockman, “Botswana: Arc of and Response to the HIV Epidemic”
- Maureen Luba Milambe, “A 15 Year Review of PEPFAR Support to Malawi: How Has it Succeeded”
- Prosper Okonkwo, “15+ Years of PEPFAR – The Nigeria Experience”
- Nzovu Ulenga, “Tanzania HIV/AIDS Progress: Successes, Challenges, and Lessons Learned”
Blog Posts
- Maureen Luba, “A 15-year review of the PEPFAR support to Malawi: How Has it Succeeded?”
- Prosper Okonkwo, “PEPFAR and Health Systems Transformation in Nigeria”