In 2003, President George W. Bush proposed spending $15 billion to fight AIDS in Africa — a program that would go on to save more than 26 million lives. Journalist John Donnelly, author of “Lifeline: The Story of PEPFAR, the Greatest Humanitarian Initiative of Our Time,” joins the show to tell the untold story of how doctors, activists, diplomats, policymakers, and Africans themselves turned an unprecedented promise into reality.
Donnelly spent more than a decade covering the politics of AIDS and America’s response to the pandemic for The Boston Globe.
From the horror of the AIDS epidemic in 2001 to the bureaucratic battles inside Washington, from secret meetings with the South African military to the political pragmatism that held a fragile coalition together — this is the story of how the United States built one of the most ambitious humanitarian programs in history, and what comes next as PEPFAR transitions to a new era.
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The opinions expressed in this conversation are strictly those of the participants and do not represent the views of Georgetown University or any government entity.
Diplomatic Immunity, a podcast from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, brings you frank and candid conversations with experts on the issues facing diplomats and national security decision-makers around the world.