U.S., July 25 -- A recent media report on plans by the State Department to dismantle PEPFAR, the US federal program to combat HIV globally, is extremely alarming to millions of people and health care providers who rely on this program for HIV medicines, prevention, and support, said the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) today.

MSF is calling on Congress to secure funding for the full range of PEPFAR services within next year's budget and to approve long-term reauthorization of the program.

PEPFAR, or the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, is a historic US government program that brought lifesaving antiretroviral medicines that were once unaffordable and out of...