The Hill: George W. Bush pens op-ed urging full funding for anti-AIDS program
“Former President George W. Bush is urging lawmakers to continue fully funding the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), an initiative he founded during his presidency to fight the AIDS epidemic in Africa. … The budget proposal put forward by the Trump Administration includes a $300 million cut from PEPFAR. Bush, who in his work for the George W. Bush Institute has formed partnerships to combat diseases like cervical cancer, said Americans ‘should keep going until the job is done’ making an AIDS-free generation in Africa…” (Shelbourne, 4/8).

The New York Times: Bush Steps Back Into Spotlight to Help Africa Fight Epidemics
“…As Congress heads for a bruising showdown over funding this month, [former President] Bush was in Africa this past week to publicize a $6.8 billion assistance program that has done much to save this continent’s future and more than a little to rehabilitate his image. In visits to clinics and schools in Botswana and Namibia, Mr. Bush argued that the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, which he established in 2004, should not only continue to fight the AIDS crisis in Africa but also expand to tackle the deadly and preventable epidemic of cervical cancer…” (Harris, 4/8).

The Raw Story: ‘On the verge of an AIDS-free generation’: George Bush pleads with GOP to continue funding Africa program
“In a stirring op-ed published in the Washington Post, former President George W. Bush pressed Republican lawmakers and President Donald Trump to continue to fully fund an anti-AIDS program he created in 2003 to battle the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa. … Bush acknowledged the new reality in Washington D.C. with Trump as president and cost-cutting a primary goal, saying it was imperative Congress keep the program alive…” (Boggioni, 4/8).

The Southern Times: Bush urges Africa to fight HIV, cancer
“Former United States of America president George W. Bush has urged Namibia, Botswana and Africa at large not to rest on their laurels now that a breakthrough in reducing HIV/AIDS and cancer on the continent has been made. … His visit comes 14 years after he announced in his 2003 State of the Union Address the $15 billion President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) to combat global HIV/AIDS…” (Shihepo/Mhaladi, 4/10).