 
February 12, 2008
HIV Advocate Congressman Tom Lantos Dies
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), known for his human rights work and advocacy for people living with HIV/AIDS, died February 11 of complications from esophageal cancer, reports the San Francisco Chronicle (sfgate.com, 2/11). Lantos, who was 80, had recently proposed a bill to increase the five-year President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)—a program that addresses HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean, Asia and sub-Saharan Africa—to $50 billion.
Lantos was the only Holocaust survivor elected to Congress. The Chronicle reports that much of his work centered on global poverty and human rights. His recent PEPFAR proposal also recommended removing a provision that requires a third of the funds to be used for abstinence programming. It would also lift bans on PEPFAR funds being used for family-planning clinics that provide abortions, or in countries where prostitution is legal.
“Chairman Lantos was an indispensable leader in the field of global AIDS and poverty,” Paul Zeitz, executive director of the Global AIDS Alliance, said in the article. “The fight against HIV/AIDS has lost a real hero. His leadership will be sorely missed.”
He is survived by his wife, two daughters, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
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