15+ Years of PEPFAR: How US Action On HIV/AIDS Has Changed Global Health

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 Fund 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, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., the Harvard Global Health Institute will host a one-day symposium to explore what enabled this visionary program, and to showcase 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. Join us as we convene the early architects of PEPFAR as well as experts and implementers currently leading the charge. We will take a historically informed look at what it will take to stop global transmission and share tools useful for others hoping to move the needle on vexing problems in global health.

This event is 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.

AGENDA 

8:30 – 9:00 am | Registration + Breakfast

9:00 – 9:15 am | Welcome Remarks

Ashish K. Jha, M.D., MPH, 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, Ph.D., Vice Provost for International Affairs and Mark Schwartz Professor of Chinese and Inner Asian History, Harvard University

Michelle Williams, Dean of the Faculty, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Angelopoulos Professor in Public Health and International Development, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Kennedy School

I. Glenn Cohen, J.D., Faculty Director, Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics, and James A. Attwood and Leslie Williams Professor of Law at Harvard University

9:15 – 10:15 am | The Birth of PEPFAR

Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID)

Moderated by Ingrid Katz, M.D., MHS, Associate Faculty Director, Harvard Global Health Institute and Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School

10:15 – 11:00 am | The Early Years (2003-2009): A New Epidemic That Requires

New Approaches 

Mark Dybul, M.D., Faculty Co-Director of the Center for Global Health Practice and Impact, Georgetown University and former U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator for PEPFAR

Moderator: Stefanie Friedhoff, Director of Content & Strategy, Harvard Global Health Institute

11:00 – 11:15 am | Break 

11:15 am – 12:45pm | Lessons Learned I: International Perspectives 

Prosper Okonkwo, MBBS, FMCPH, FWACP, Chief Executive Officer, APIN Public Health Initiatives, Nigeria

Nduku Kilonzo, Ph.D., Executive Director, National Aids Control Council, Kenya (via video-conferencing)

Nzovu Ulenga, Ph.D., COO and Director of Health Systems Strengthening, Management and Development for Health, Tanzania

Maureen Luba, B.S., African Region Advocacy Advisor for AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC), Malawi

Moderator: Roger I. Glass, M.D., MPH, Director, Fogarty International Center & Associate Director for International Research, National Institutes of Health

12:45 – 1:30 pm | Lunch break   

1:30 – 2:00 pm | Diving Deeper (2009 to 2013): From an Emergency Response to 

Local Ownership and Systems Strengthening  

Charles Holmes, M.D., MPH, Faculty Co-Director, Center for Global Health Practice and Impact, Georgetown University and former Deputy U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator for PEPFAR

2:00 – 3:30 pm | Lessons Learned II: Getting to Zero 

Phyllis Kanki, D.Sc., D.V.M., Mary Woodward Lasker Professor of Health Sciences, Harvard School of Public Health

Robert Greenwald, J.D., Clinical Professor of Law and Faculty Director, Harvard University Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation, and Health Law and Policy Clinic

Shahin Lockman, M.D., Associate Director, Harvard University Center for AIDS Research

Moderator: Maureen Goodenow, Ph.D., NIH Associate Director for AIDS Research and Director of the NIH Office of AIDS Research

3:30 – 3:45 pm | Break   

3:45 – 4:45 pm | Taking it Forward (2014+) 

Ambassador-at-Large, Deborah L. Birx, M.D., Coordinator of the United States Government Activities to Combat HIV/AIDS and U.S. Special Representative for Global Health

Moderated by: Kenneth H. Mayer, M.D., Medical Research Director and Co-Chair of The Fenway Institute and Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

4:45 – 5:00 pm | Closing Remarks

Bruce Walker, M.D., Director, Harvard University Center for AIDS Research and Director, Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard University

5:00 – 6:00 pm | Poster Session & Reception