President Obama Fights HIV, POTUS Allocates $300 Million to Reduce Cases of Virus

President Obama is working to fight HIV rates in young African women. The POTUS has recently allotted $300 million to reduce cases of the virus. Obama and his administration have announced the $300 million program relaunch to help to reduce new cases of HIV infections amongst young African women in 10 sub-Saharan nations, which have reportedly been hit the hardest by the virus.

Officials in the administration are reportedly hoping for a 25% infection decrease by the end of this year, with a 40% decrease by the end of 2017. National Security Adviser, Susan Rice, shared her thoughts on the launched program, “No greater action is needed right now than empowering adolescent girls and young women to defeat HIV/AIDS. Every year, 380,000 adolescent girls and young women are infected with HIV,” she said in a statement.

In order to help cure these cases, the program will be distributing antiretroviral drugs, commonly known as ARV, to at least 13 million people by the end of 2017.

This attribution is the continued step of the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, also known as PEPFAR, which was originally started by former President George W. Bush during his term. The program has since been expanded by President Obama and is currently credited for having saved millions of Africans lives over the years. The Emergency Plan is also currently providing ARV to over 7.7 million HIV patients around the globe.

According to statistics from the administration, there are reportedly more than 1,000 girls who are infected with the virus per day. The countries that are on board to receive that allocated $300 million from the program include Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique. The expansion to these other countries should put a huge dent in how many cases are treated this next year.