Similar versions of a bill authorizing $50 billion for global HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB programs over the next five years recently passed House and Senate committees and will be sent to the floor for a vote. CGD's HIV/AIDS Monitor director Nandini Oomman reports that the bills respond to some of the evidence from the first five years of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) regarding funding allocations, the strengthening of local capacity, the unique vulnerabilities of women and girls, and the need for better monitoring and impact evaluation. The Senate bill also supports U.S. backing of advance market commitments for vaccines, an idea that a CGD working group helped to develop. The bills are less clear on such controversial issues as family planning and the so-called anti-prostitution pledge.

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In response to numerous requests, we are pleased to announce the next installment of the MCA Monitor's Reports from the Field series. The Millennium Challenge Corp. is shifting its attention from negotiation of new compacts to implementation of existing compacts, so the focus of our field investigations is shifting, too. CGD research assistant and policy analyst Amy Crone reports from El Salvador on her initial impressions and on the questions she will be exploring in her forthcoming MCA Field Report from El Salvador, the eighth in our popular series.

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