Mark Dybul knows the ins and outs of PEPFAR, America’s long-running effort to fight AIDS in Africa, intimately. As a staffer at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, he was one of only two non-White House experts to help draw up the original outline of the program early in the George W. Bush administration. From 2006 to 2009, he served as the program’s chief as U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator.
Now two decades old, the program is credited with saving more than 25 million lives. Dybul, however, is worried it may not continue much longer, as misinformation peddled by opponents of abortion rights threatens congressional authorization of the program.
“It’s all basically misinformation being thrown around in a way that is damaging, that could risk millions of lives — which is not pro-life — and it’s not factual,” he told HuffPost in a recent interview.
At issue is whether the law authorizing PEPFAR will be renewed by Sept. 30, when the program expires….