Focus on what matters: PEPFAR’s role in making the world healthier and more secure

My first State Department trip after joining the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief, or PEPFAR, in its early years, filled me with immense joy and pride in our country’s contributions to saving the lives of those who were perishing from HIV. 

Visiting a community clinic on a summer night in rural Mozambique and meeting with families whose lives had been saved by medicines PEPFAR purchased brought tears to my eyes. Finally, a reversal of the grief and loss I experienced as...