Longtime HIV champion and Congresswoman for Illinois’ 2nd Congressional District Robin Kelly is standing up for global HIV funding.  Rep. Kelly, with Congressman Mark Pocan of Wisconsin (WI-02), led 109 of their colleagues in sending a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio last month. The letter demands action to stop the Trump Administration’s unlawful pause of global HIV and AIDS programs, including the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR. Also signing on from Illinois were Reps. Jonathan Jackson (IL-01), Delia C. Ramirez (IL-03), Mike Quigley (IL-05), Sean Casten (IL-06), Danny K. Davis (IL-07), Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL-08), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), and Bill Foster (IL-11). 

“[A] halt in these services threatens millions of lives, undermines decades of progress, and diminishes U.S. leadership in global health security and diplomacy,” the letter states. 

Rep. Kelly has been a champion of HIV services and of communities most impacted by HIV, supporting federal funding for HIV through the Ryan White and the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) programs, engaging with her LGBTQ+ constituents through regular LGBTQ+ community roundtables, and promoting initiatives to address disparities in health outcomes for Black women and girls. Rep. Kelly has worked to improve HIV funding and policy since her days in the Illinois General Assembly as a state representative from 2002-2007. 

“Representative Kelly consistently shows up for our communities. Her steadfast leadership will be a tremendous asset in the fight to protect and reauthorize PEPFAR. We cannot end the HIV epidemic domestically if we don’t address it globally as well,” said Omar Martinez Gonzalez, Senior Manager of Policy and Advocacy for AIDS Foundation Chicago. 

PEPFAR has been a cornerstone of the global response to the HIV epidemic.  According to the State Department, which administers the program, PEPFAR has saved 26 million lives since its inception in 2003, and has prevented perinatal transmission of HIV for 7.8 million babies.  Across 55 countries, PEPFAR served 20.6 million people as of September 2024, including over 550,000 children.  83.8 million people received HIV testing services in 2024 due to PEPFAR, which also provides access to HIV care and medication, and PrEP for HIV prevention.  Among people connected to care through PEPFAR, 95% of adults and 89% of children are virally suppressed.  In 2024 alone, 2.5 million new people were enrolled in PrEP prescriptions through the PEPFAR program.  PEPFAR supports 90% of PrEP prescriptions globally.  In countries served by PEPFAR in 2023 as compared to 2010 data, HIV transmission has decreased 56%, and HIV-related deaths have decreased by 59%.   

PEPFAR supports hundreds of thousands of global healthcare workers and has protected global health through its successful response to prevention and treatment of HIV.  This bolsters economies and diplomatic ties across countries and continents.  As noted in the letter from Kelly and Pocan, PEPFAR is a prime example of the United States’ “soft power,” a way of showing global leadership through humanitarian causes and economic development that results in strengthened relationships for the U.S. worldwide.  For decades, the United States has led the world through exercising soft power with programs like PEPFAR and USAID, initiatives that have long enjoyed strong bipartisan support both for their life-saving outcomes and for the goodwill they engender.  The United States’ global impact on the HIV epidemic has been immense, and the country should not abdicate its primacy of leadership in that fight. 

In an inextricably interconnected and globalized world, a failure to combat HIV abroad will translate to increased transmission worldwide, leading to needless deaths, including here in the U.S.  Relinquishing its global leadership role will not only worsen health outcomes and mortality rates, including among pregnant women, children, and newborns, but will signify a diminishment in stature for the United States as a global actor and diplomatic force. 

AIDS Foundation Chicago thanks Congresswoman Kelly and all those fighting to protect and reauthorize PEPFAR.  It is an essential, lifesaving program that brings us closer to ending the HIV epidemic, creates a safer and healthier world, and epitomizes America’s global leadership.