For Immediate Release
Media Contact:
Justin Burke - 213.201.1525
BUSH CALLS FOR NEW FUNDING FOR DOMESTIC HIV/AIDS PROGRAMS
Proposed Budget Fails to Meet Need
February 6, 2006, Los Angeles, Calif. -- AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) today welcomed President Bush’s proposal for $188 million in new money to fight the domestic AIDS epidemic, but cautioned that the proposed amount is too little and only helps to offset several years of funding cuts.
“The number of people living with AIDS has gone up by 12 percent since 2001, while funding to the Ryan White CARE Act, the nation’s largest dedicated source of HIV/AIDS funding, has been cut by nearly 2.5 percent,” said APLA Executive Director Craig E. Thompson. “When you factor in the ever-rising costs of health care and HIV/AIDS drugs, you understand why programs serving people living with HIV/AIDS are feeling the squeeze.”
In his 2007 budget released today, President Bush asked Congress for: $90 million more for purchase and distribution of rapid HIV tests, especially to heavily impacted minority communities; $70 million in new funding to eliminate wait lists for the nation’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP); and $25 million to increase outreach by community non-profit and faith-based programs.
“Last year, AIDS advocates asked Congress for an increase of $303 million in the ADAP program alone, just to meet growing demand, and we got a paltry $2 million,” Thompson said. “We’ve got people all around the country waiting in line for life-saving HIV drugs and other services, and while we appreciate this call for new funding we will need much more -- or we’ll just keep playing catch-up with a growing epidemic.”
Thompson also noted that none of the new ADAP funding would go to California. The state’s ADAP program has kept pace with both demand and rising drug prices, in part because of annual budget subsidies from the state’s general fund.
The president’s proposed budget directs much of this new money towards low-income and minority communities that are increasingly hardest hit by HIV/AIDS. Testing and awareness funds would target prisoners and drug treatment facilities.
“We need to remember that men who have sex with men of every color continue to account for the largest number of new HIV infections each year,” Thompson said. “If the president truly wants to beat this epidemic here at home, then he needs to increase funding to this community. We need science-based, culturally appropriate prevention programs that address the lives of gay and bisexual men.”
AIDS Project Los Angeles, one of the largest non-profit AIDS service organizations in the United States, provides bilingual direct services, prevention education and leadership on HIV/AIDS-related policy and legislation. Founded by four friends in 1982, APLA is a community-based, volunteer-supported organization with local, national and global reach. For more information, visit www.apla.org.
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