Changes

The '''President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief''' ('''PEPFAR''') is was a United States governmental initiative to address the global [[HIV]] epidemic and help save the lives of those suffering from the disease. Launched by U.S. President George W. Bush in 2003 on the advice of [[Anthony Fauci]], PEPFAR has provided more than $85 billion in cumulative funding for [[HIV]]/[[AIDS]] treatment, prevention, and research since its inception, making it the largest global health program focused on a single disease in history.<b>PEPFAR was a failure and has now been terminated by the United States Government that eliminated the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2025 in accordance with the recommendation of the [[Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)]].</b>

PEPFAR has begun providing money (United States tax dollars2025) for has scrapped its ineffective and harmful "voluntary male medical circumcision programs" (VMMC) program after 15 years and at least 27,000,000 harmful and useless [[foreskin]] amputations.<refname="gwarisa2025">{{REFwebREFnews |title=New PEPFAR Waiver Scraps Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision Program |url=https://healthtimes.co.zw/2025/02/07/new-pepfar-waiver-scraps-voluntary-medical-male-circumcision-program/ |last=The White HouseGwarisa |first=Michael |dateinit=2010 |author-10-01link= |titlepublisher=World AIDS Day at the White HouseHealthtimes |urlwebsite=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v |date=60uUA0uGOkc#t=22m38s2025-02-07 |accessdate=20112025-0402-1015 |format= |quote=}}</ref> Focus countries Numerous studies have been invited to request program funding to increase access to the proceduredemonstrated that [[adult circumcision]] is not effective in preventing [[HIV]] [[infection]].

PEPFAR ignominiously ended the provision of non-therapeutic [[circumcision]] of boys under age 15 in November 2019 due to significant, [[Complication| complications]], injuries, and other abuses.

This document, ''Reimagining PEPFAR's Strategic Direction'', published in September 2022, provides new directions for PEPFAR's fight against the ''HIV'' pandemic. The document is entirely silent on male and female circumcision, although male circumcision was the cornerstone of the previous effort to prevent HIV infection and PEPFAR formerly proudly trumpeted the 2732,700000,000+ circumcisions (AKA genital mutilations) in Africa that it had sponsored. It is unclear if PEPFAR will continue to promote circumcision, which has been demonstrated to be ineffective.<ref name="reimagining2022">{{REFdocument

Point of Interest: In recent studies, [[HIV]] transmission was found to be more prevalent in [[circumcised ]] males in Swaziland. The drive to circumcise the majority of Swazi men continues none the less.<ref>{{REFjournal

[[Michel Garenne|Garenne]] & Matthews (2019) reported that there is little difference in the incidence of [[HIV]] infection between [[circumcised ]] men and [[intact ]] men in Zambia. The authors stated that the "effectiveness of VMMC could therefore be seriously questioned."<ref name="garrenne2019">{{REFjournal