Take Action on World AIDS Day!

Today is World AIDS Day. In the Washington Post today, former President Bush said:

"[P]rogress in many African nations depends on the realistic hope of new patients gaining access to treatment. Why get tested if AIDS drugs are restricted to current patients? On AIDS, to stand still is to lose ground."


As strange as it feels, I can't help but agree with the former President. What a fitting comment for this World AIDS Day, three years after President Obama made a commitment to dramatically increase spending on global AIDS. Instead, funding has virtually flat-lined for two years in a row. The result on the ground is that people are being turned away from clinics without life-saving medicine. New research on prevention is stalling because of a lack of funding. And the doctors and nurses needed to implement the programs are not getting trained, because the money isn't there to train them.


So today, people from around the US are coming together to call for increased funding for AIDS, which the President and Congress promised to do. Will you join them? Directions are below.

President Obama will finalize his budget by December 15th so time is of the essence.

To make a difference:

1. On December 1st, call the White House Comment Line at (202)456-1111
2. Follow the automated instructions
3. Say: “Hi, my name is ________. I’m from ______. I’m disappointed with how the administration has dealt with the AIDS Pandemic so far. I’m calling to ask President Obama to live up to his promise of contributing $50 billion by 2013 for the fight against AIDS. Thank you very much."

Tell President Obama that Waiting Lists Won't End AIDS: Access to Treatment Will!

President Obama will be in town tomorrow (Monday, October 20th) and ACT UP Philly will be lining the streets outside the convention center to help him see the impact of not keeping his AIDS promises: growing waiting lists for housing in Philly, for medicine in the US and around the world.

Join us Monday, September 20th, and 2pm at the corner of Broad St. and Arch St.

Max

Economy Wreaks Havoc on Federal AIDS Drug Program - NYTimes.com June 30, 2010

NYTimes.com: "The weak economy is ravaging the government program that provides life-sustaining antiretroviral drugs to people with H.I.V. or AIDS who cannot afford them. Nearly 1,800 have been relegated to rapidly expanding waiting lists that less than three years ago had dwindled to zero.
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Michael McElroy for The New York Times

As with other safety-net programs, ballooning demand caused by persistent unemployment and loss of health insurance is being met with reductions in government resources. Without reliable access to the medications, which cost individuals in the AIDS Drug Assistance Program an average of $12,000 a year, people with H.I.V. are more likely to develop full-blown AIDS, transmit the virus and require expensive hospitalizations."