Business Wire - Tuesday October 13, 1998
If elected Governor of California, Lieutenant Governor Gray Davis would support additional funding for HIV/AIDS research and extend Medi-Cal eligibility to people living with HIV disease, while Attorney General Dan Lungren would favor prevention programs and public-private partnerships, according to a new survey by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF).
The survey will be released Wednesday Oct. 14, the day before Davis and Lungren square off in the third round of gubernatorial debates in San Francisco. Davis declared his support for expanding Medi-Cal eligibility to low-income, asymptomatic people with HIV disease in order to ensure access to treatment. Lungren did not support the expansion of Medi-Cal eligibility, saying he favored public-private partnerships over "publicly funded entitlement programs."
The candidates also revealed very different attitudes towards spending on HIV/AIDS. "It is imperative that we support AIDS research," said Davis, who said he did not believe sufficient state funds are being allocated to fight HIV/AIDS. "Measures establishing greater research, health care, and education are all vital to fighting AIDS."
Attorney General Lungren expressed strong support for prevention and early intervention, but remained silent on the question of committing additional funds to HIV/AIDS research. "I strongly advocate education and prevention efforts that discourage high risk activities, such as drug use and unprotected sex, and highly value early intervention programs," he said.
The San Francisco AIDS Foundation noted that in years to come, HIV/AIDS programs are expecting to see a huge surge in demand. "New treatments mean that more people with HIV/AIDS are living longer," said Pat Christen, Executive Director of SFAF. "And those people will need on-going access to affordable health-care and services. We must also remain vigilant in our prevention efforts."
The survey was conducted as part of SFAF's "Vote to End AIDS" program, a non-partisan public education initiative designed to raise voter awareness of electoral candidates' positions on HIV/AIDS. Responses were solicited from all seven gubernatorial candidates, and received from Gray Davis, Dan Hamburg, Dan Lungren and Gloria Estela La Riva. Similar surveys were conducted of California Senatorial and Congressional candidates.
Contact: San Francisco AIDS Foundation Kasia Grisso, Rachel Swain, 415/255-1946 Regina Aragn, 415/487-3080
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