PEPFAR Funding Leads to Significant Reductions in Adult Mortality

Between 2003 and 2008, the U.S. invested $20.4 billion in the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which funds HIV treatment and prevention in 15 countries, including 12 in Africa. Previous research has shown that the PEPFAR program in Africa is associated with significant reductions in HIV-specific mortality (JW AIDS Clin Care Jun 29 2009), but less is known about its effects on all-cause mortality.

In the present study, researchers calculated adult all-cause mortality rates for 27 African countries, using survey data from women who were asked about recent deaths in their families. Nine of the 27 countries had received PEPFAR funding (Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia), and 1…