At a time when partisan bickering has crippled Congress, it is encouraging to find agreement on the important issue of curbing the global AIDS epidemic.
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A bipartisan group of 40 senators and representatives has urged President Obama to double the number of people abroad who will be treated for infections with H.I.V., the AIDS virus, by the end of 2016 under an American program that helps foreign governments in poor and low-income countries finance efforts to fight the disease.
The group wants to set a new goal of 12 million people under treatment with antiviral drugs by the end of 2016, double the six million currently under treatment. With no vaccine to prevent AIDS yet available, treatment is an effective way to slow the epidemic because it reduces the risk that an infected person will spread the virus to others.
The group — led by Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, who is a physician, and Representative Barbara Lee, a Democrat of California — includes Senators John McCain, Marco Rubio, Michael Enzi, Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, all Republicans. The Democrats who have signed on include Senators Charles Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand and Elizabeth Warren, and Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who is chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee.
It's not clear what the cost of raising the treatment goal might be, but Congress and the Obama administration should cooperate in finding the money, either by reprogramming existing funds or providing additional appropriations. The administration had been seeking, and House and Senate appropriations committees had approved, $4 billion for fiscal year 2014 to support the program helping foreign governments, but the budget battles in Congress make it likely that far less will be available.
The United States also joins other governments and private organizations in financing the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Next week, the fund is scheduled to hold a conference in Washington, at which it hopes to raise $15 billion in pledges from donors to cover the next three years. The United States is by far the biggest contributor to the fund. Other nations need to contribute their fair share.
In the long run, treating infected people before they get sick makes economic sense. It keeps them productive and supporting their families, reduces the cost of caring for those who might otherwise become sick and prevents new infections. It is also the humane thing to do.
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