After a decade, global AIDS program looks ahead

In this Associated Press file photo, former US President George W. Bush, right, hoists 4-year-old Baron Mosima Loyiso Tantoh, son of Manyongo Mosima “Kuene” Tantoh of South Africa, left, who is HIV-positive, after speaking about his efforts to fight HIV/AIDS worldwide, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington.

WASHINGTON—The decade-old law that transformed the battle against HIV and AIDS in developing countries is at a crossroads. The dream of future generations freed from the lethal epidemic is running up against the realities of the current era of harsh budget cuts.

The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief grew out of an unlikely partnership between President George W. Bush and lawmakers led by the Congressional Black Caucus. It has come to represent what Washington can do when it puts politics aside and what America can do to make the world a better place.

President Barack Obama recently spoke of the compassion Bush showed in “helping to save millions of lives and reminding people in some of the poorest corners of the globe that America cares.”