Los Angeles, Calif., January 28, 2008 – AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) today called on Congress to increase U. S. international AIDS funding, after President Bush proposed flat funding for these programs in his annual State of the Union address Monday evening.

"We commend the president for his commitment to fighting AIDS overseas," said APLA Executive Director Craig E. Thompson, "but the epidemic is spreading faster than the world is moving to control it, and we will need to increase funding if our efforts to halt the spread of AIDS are going to succeed."

The president proposed $30 billion over the next five years to fund the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

The administration maintains that this request doubles the $15 billion the president requested when he introduced PEPFAR five years ago. However, the president is asking for nearly $6 billion in 2008 – an annual figure that translates into flat funding at $30 billion over the next five years.

"The goal of PEPFAR is stopping the spread of AIDS, and providing care and treatment for those already infected," said Thompson. "Currently, there are six new infections for every person receiving treatment, and that is an equation for worldwide disaster."

The U. S. is now the largest funder of global AIDS programs. Between 2004 and 2008, some $19 billion has gone into PEPFAR programs, supplying life-saving antiretroviral treatment for an estimated 1,445,500 people; providing services to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission in over 10 million pregnancies; and delivering care to over 2.7 million orphans and vulnerable children.

The World Health Organization estimates that 33 million people are now infected with HIV worldwide. Ninety percent of those infected do not know they are carrying the HIV virus.

"We can all do the math," Thompson said. "There are more and more people living with HIV, and more and more infections. Our funding needs to meet these challenges and then some."

APLA and other advocacy groups are calling for $50 billion for PEPFAR over the next five years, to meet global demand. APLA and other advocates also believe PEPFAR funding would be more effective if an administration provision on abstinence-only prevention funding was dropped. Currently, the administration requires that one-third of all PEPFAR prevention funding must be spent on abstinence-only-until-marriage education.

"We need effective prevention programs that meet local need, both globally and here at home," Thompson said. "Abstinence-only education works for some populations, but not others – especially gay men, who in the current climate have no hope of being able to marry."

Gay and bisexual men make up a significant portion of the global epidemic in some countries. However, the global epidemic is primarily spread by heterosexual transmission.

"PEPFAR is the paramount success story of the Bush administration overseas," Thompson said. "It would be a tragedy to under-fund these programs now, just when we are beginning to have a real impact on this devastating epidemic."

AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA), 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. Marking 25 years of service in 2008, APLA is a community-based, volunteer-supported organization with local, national and global reach. For more information, visit www.apla.org.