The pioneer of America’s embattled global HIV program recalls the hope after years of despair

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Dr. John Nkengasong has spent decades working in Africa on HIV and AIDS, his career intertwined with a U.S. program that has transformed care in some of the hardest-hit countries and saved an estimated 25 million lives. He spoke to The Associated Press during a battle over funding in Congress that imperils the future of the AIDS program, called PEPFAR. Before it was started 20 years ago, there was almost no affordable effective treatment anywhere between South Africa and the Sahara. Nkengasong recalls the families who would bring their dying loved ones to his clinic and there was nothing he could do.