When was the last time you heard someone thank the U.S. for our role in the world? This report in The New York Times highlights how American funding for AIDS treatment has changed lives - and saved lives - in Africa:

The last decade has been what some doctors call a “golden window” for treatment. Drugs that once cost $12,000 a year fell to less than $100, and the world was willing to pay. In Uganda, where fewer than 10,000 were on drugs a decade ago, nearly 200,000 now are, largely as a result of American generosity. But the golden window is closing. Uganda is the first country where major clinics routinely turn people away, but it will not be the last. In Kenya next door, grants to keep 200,000 on drugs will expire soon. An American-run program in Mozambique has been told to stop opening clinics [...]  American taxpayers have been particularly generous to Uganda, paying for 88 percent of its drugs; Ugandans know it. Karen Morgan, an American who runs a laboratory at the hospital where Ms. Kamukama was turned away, said: “Just today, a patient came up to me in the parking lot and said, ‘Thank you, American.’ I said, ‘For what?’ He said ‘For my medicine. You care if I live or die.’ ”

The remarkable American generosity praised in this report was a result of President Bush’s “President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program,” a billion dollar aid effort sure to rank as one of the top achievements of his presidency. Former President Bill Clinton recently praised this program for improving opinion of the U.S. role in the world:

When President Bush’s and America’s approval went way down all over the world because of the Iraq war [....] there were three places where it didn’t go down: in India, where we made a deal for peaceful nuclear cooperation; in central and eastern Europe, where we continued my policy to expand NATO; and in the 10 countries of southern and eastern Africa where PEPFAR (the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) was concentrated and the highest AIDS rates were. Did they agree with President Bush’s Iraq policy? No. … They thought he and the United States cared whether their children lived or died.

As successful as this program was, the American effort in Africa is now waning as the Obama Administration changes the focus and strategy of American aid efforts away from medicine and towards family and community support programs. That change is already drawing criticism, as this Washington Post report notes:

The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) succeeded internationally with a simple theory: put someone in charge, give them the resources they need, and hold them personally accountable for outcomes. By this measure, the new domestic AIDS strategy raises more questions than it answers. The report comes out of the National AIDS Policy Council at the White House, which does not have direct, government-wide authority over this issue. The new resources dedicated to the effort — $30 million — are minimal. And if the targets in the strategy are not met, it is not clear that anyone is held directly responsible.

Still, it’s not uncommon for a president to change the policies inherited from a predecessor, and how these different efforts compare will take time to properly assess. For now, if you are interested, you can read about President Obama’s HIV/AIDS program on the White House website for the Office of National AIDS Policy. Finally, let me leave you with this video of President Obama announcing his program: