Dear [ Senator ],

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From the World Health Organization (WHO) to the World Bank, from OGAC to the Institute of Medicine, there is now global recognition that without addressing the gaping shortage of health workers in developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, the sustained scale-up of HIV services towards universal access that PEPFAR seeks to achieve is unattainable. WHO estimates that sub-Saharan Africa alone needs 1.5 million more health workers to meet the population's basic health needs, including more than 800,000 doctors, nurses, and midwives. Achieving the global commitment to universal access to HIV/AIDS services will require, globally, the equivalent of more than 427,000 new health workers who provide HIV/AIDS services full-time, according to UNAIDS.

PEPFAR will only succeed if its next phase does far more to train and retain health workers. Therefore, I urge that you make every possible effort to ensure that the legislation includes direct US support for training and retaining at least 140,000 new health professionals by 2013. PEPFAR has already expressed strong interest in supporting community health workers. Indeed, community health workers, who should be fairly compensated, are crucial to the AIDS response and need further support. Yet to move the response to the health worker crisis to the next level, this target should focus on professionals such as nurses, doctors, and laboratory technicians. This would be a significant start towards overcoming the massive health worker shortages and ensuring that countries have the health workers they require for HIV/AIDS programs - without drawing health workers away from other critical health programs. I also urge you to ensure that the legislation supports countries in developing and fully implementing national health workforce strategies designed to meet health needs, goals, and commitments. This will ensure that the United States supports a comprehensive response to the health worker crisis, such the need to equitably deploy and better manage health workers.

In addition, we ask you to support current language in the Senate bill that would lift the travel ban that bars people with HIV from visiting the United States.

The ban is a continuation of misunderstood, and offensive, practices that violate human rights and contribute to the stigma that fuels this pandemic. There are no public health grounds for the ban.