WASHINGTON - Yesterday, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and U.S. Representative Gregory W. Meeks (D-NY), Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio raising concern over the incomplete release of Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 programmatic data for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). In the letter, the lawmakers underscore that PEPFAR's longstanding bipartisan support is rooted in its record of transparency and warn that the omission of data from the first three quarters of FY2025 undermines congressional oversight and accountability. They call on the State Department to immediately release the missing data and maintain PEPFAR's established reporting standards. They also raise concerns about the stark decline in testing, diagnosis and treatment initiations-particularly for infants-and the prospects for achieving epidemic control by 2030.

"The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has enjoyed overwhelming bipartisan support since it was established in 2003. This support is largely due to the program's exceptional record of transparency, which allows for public verification of its results through comprehensive quarterly reporting. Unfortunately, PEPFAR's programmatic data for FY2025, released on April 17th, only provides data for the fourth quarter of FY 2025, omitting critical data for the first three quarters of the year," wrote the lawmakers.

"The failure to maintain accurate data was an entirely avoidable outcome of the administration's chaotic decision to disrupt essential work without a plan to sustain basic oversight and accountability mechanisms. These failures are not an excuse to avoid releasing available data to the public in accordance with the standing expectations for transparency of the PEPFAR program and existing statute, and we ask that data from the first three quarters of FY2025 be released publicly," continued the lawmakers.

"We understand that in January 2026, preliminary Q1-Q4 data was posted in January for a short period of time and shows substantial disruptions across PEPFAR services, particularly in testing, diagnosing, and the number of people initiated on treatment in FY25. In particular, PrEP initiations declined starkly along with infant testing, diagnoses and treatment initiations. While the State Department has seemingly tried to obfuscate this alarming data by briefing Congress that the number of individuals on treatment remained stable, the complete data set raises serious concerns about the prospects of achieving and maintaining epidemic control," continued the lawmakers.

"After decades of U.S investment, PEPFAR, was on track to eradicate HIV/AIDS by 2030. That remarkable goal is only within reach because we gained a detailed understanding of the HIV epidemic through the collection, analysis and dissemination of data, which in turn allows programs to reach the right people in the right place at the right time. Without this understanding, we risk squandering the U.S.'s legacy of leading the worldwide charge to eradicate HIV/AIDS and save lives," concluded the lawmakers.

Full text of the letter is available HERE and provided below.

Dear Secretary Rubio,

The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has enjoyed overwhelming bipartisan support since it was established in 2003. This support is largely due to the program's exceptional record of transparency, which allows for public verification of its results through comprehensive quarterly reporting. Unfortunately, PEPFAR's programmatic data for FY2025, released on April 17th, only provides data for the fourth quarter of FY 2025, omitting critical data for the first three quarters of the year. PEPFAR's website states, "The U.S. government has greater confidence in fourth quarter data completeness following the transition of global health programs to the Department of State; earlier quarters experienced reporting and implementation challenges which limit data interpretability."

The failure to maintain accurate data was an entirely avoidable outcome of the administration's chaotic decision to disrupt essential work without a plan to sustain basic oversight and accountability mechanisms. These failures are not an excuse to avoid releasing available data to the public in accordance with the standing expectations for transparency of the PEPFAR program and existing statute, and we ask that data from the first three quarters of FY2025 be released publicly. We understand that in January 2026, preliminary Q1-Q4 data was posted in January for a short period of time and shows substantial disruptions across PEPFAR services, particularly in testing, diagnosing, and the number of people initiated on treatment in FY25. In particular, PrEP initiations declined starkly along with infant testing, diagnoses and treatment initiations. While the State Department has seemingly tried to obfuscate this alarming data by briefing Congress that the number of individuals on treatment remained stable, the complete data set raises serious concerns about the prospects of achieving and maintaining epidemic control.

To fully understand the effect of the transition of global health assistance to the America First Global Health Strategy framework, Congress requires the kind of detailed, sub-national and award-level information that PEPFAR has historically released publicly. Specifically, we request data to continue to be collected at the national, subnational and facility level. This data must be at the requisite level of disaggregation, frequency and detail to critically assess programmatic continuity and programmatic and population gaps, while maintaining transparency standards. We expect also that these data will include both age and sex disaggregation sufficient to assess whether services are reaching the age brackets most at risk of acquiring and transmitting HIV and other diseases.

Where national data systems are not currently capable of providing the levels of disaggregated data necessary, we request a timeline and implementation plan for the development of those capacities within each national data system. Finally, we request that data continue to be published quarterly at minimum so American taxpayers can have certainty that their taxpayer funds are spent in a transparent, efficient, and accountable manner. Moreover, if partner countries are to be held accountable for meeting performance benchmarks and maintaining treatment, they need clear baseline data showing current service levels, costs, and outcomes. Additionally, because of this Administration's failure to obligate Congressionally appropriated funds to UNAIDS, we may lose yet another source of critical data in the United States' longstanding efforts to end AIDS as a public health threat.

After decades of U.S investment, PEPFAR, was on track to eradicate HIV/AIDS by 2030. That remarkable goal is only within reach because we gained a detailed understanding of the HIV epidemic through the collection, analysis and dissemination of data, which in turn allows programs to reach the right people in the right place at the right time. Without this understanding, we risk squandering the U.S.'s legacy of leading the worldwide charge to eradicate HIV/AIDS and save lives.

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