Yeah, EA definitely knew PEPFAR is effective! It’s often used as an example of a successful government program in introductions to EA. Shortly after, they usually emphasise how little of your taxes actually go to it :( Indeed, one of the reasons EA doesn’t talk about AIDS all that much is exactly because PEPFAR exists and is already kinda decent—there is usually more impact to be had in more neglected global health issues. If PEPFAR ends up truly defunded, I think we’ll be talking about AIDS a lot more though. (Also the person who led pepfarreport.org founded Stanford EA, and is one of the most well-known and influential effective altruists.)
Yeah, EA definitely knew PEPFAR is effective! It’s often used as an example of a successful government program in introductions to EA. Shortly after, they usually emphasise how little of your taxes actually go to it :( Indeed, one of the reasons EA doesn’t talk about AIDS all that much is exactly because PEPFAR exists and is already kinda decent—there is usually more impact to be had in more neglected global health issues. If PEPFAR ends up truly defunded, I think we’ll be talking about AIDS a lot more though. (Also the person who led pepfarreport.org founded Stanford EA, and is one of the most well-known and influential effective altruists.)