“It is quite normal for a school or department to advance funds between grant periods with the full knowledge that this will be reimbursed by the government when funding starts,” Hyman wrote in an e-mail. Murphy could not be reached after Friday.

ON TARGET

Although the official second-year funding was delayed, it has not interrupted treatment of patients, Murphy said.

And despite the funding and administrative delays experienced during the first year of the program, the PEPFAR teams were able to reach the first-year targets for the number of patients treated set by the grant.

“Because the treatment has gone on as long as it has, there is already clear evidence that anti-retroviral drugs for very sick patients works and is cost effective,” Essex said. “Despite the advanced stage of their sickness, they’ve done just as well one to two years later as people who get treatment in a Boston hospital. Therapy can work very well.”

“I think that’s a great tribute to Phyllis. She’s really the one who’s held this together over a course of confusion in the initiation of the program,” he added.

—Staff writer May Habib can be reached at habib@fas.harvard.edu.