President Barack Obama’s global health policies are drawing criticism from some HIV/AIDS advocates who disagree with the President’s plan to draw back the number of new patients put on antiretroviral drugs each year.  The New York Times is covering the controversy:

AIDS advocates complained bitterly that they had been betrayed and that the Bush administration’s best legacy was being gutted — and they blame a doctor and budget adviser who is also the brother of the White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel.

“I’m holding my nose as I say this, but I miss George W. Bush,” said Gregg Gonsalves a long-time AIDS campaigner. “On AIDS, he really stepped up. He did a tremendous thing. Now, to have this happen under Obama is really depressing.”

…

The [Pepfar] program has put 2.4 million on the drugs since 2004, or almost 500,000 a year on average. Adding only 1.6 million over the next five years means adding only 320,000 each year.

The cutbacks are being made to shift focus on other deadly illnesses such as pneumonia and malaria.  Chris Collins of amfAR is critical of this prioritization, saying “We can’t keep kids alive to age 13 till they die of something more expensive. Also, a high percentage of health care workers are infected; we’ve got to keep them alive.”