Bay Windows - May 25, 2006
Laura Kiritsy, lkiritsy@baywindows.com

"America is in many ways failing its own citizens in its domestic response to the epidemic," said Chris Collins, a consultant to the Public Health Watch Project and author of the report, during a May 24 teleconference. Collins then detailed the report's major findings, among them that the U.S. lacks a coordinated national plan for comprehensive HIV prevention and treatment and support, just half of people living with HIV are receiving regular HIV-related medical care and just about half of those who meet government criteria for use of anti-retroviral drugs receive the life-saving medicines. Also, funding for HIV prevention is limited and not allocated in a cost-effective manner and prevention policy is often at odds with evidence of what is effective, i.e. the Bush administration's advocacy of abstinence over condom use.

Collins also noted that HIV continues to disproportionately affect communities of color, gay men, men who have sex with men, intravenous drug users and the poor. "The disproportionate impact on African Americans is such that no significant progress can be made on national level outcomes unless policy and programming better meet the needs of this community," said Collins.

Judy Auerbach, vice president for public policy of amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, blasted the Bush Administration's over-emphasis on abstinence-until-marriage programs in trying to prevent the spread of HIV among young people, "even though they have no proven efficacy." Auerbach noted that funding for the programs has jumped from about $80 million in 2001 to $178 million in 2006.

"At the same time," she said, "the U.S. currently denigrates condom effectiveness in its public health materials and it prohibits programs that receive this abstinence-only funding from even mentioning that condoms are proven to be 80 to 95 percent effective in preventing HIV transmission when used correctly and consistently."

The report calls on the Bush administration to dedicate increased prevention resources, including the use of tools such as "frank sexual education" and needle exchange programs to reduce HIV infections. Among other recommendations, the report calls on the Bush administration to coordinate a strategy across federal, state and local agencies to address the delivery of services and provides for measurable results. It also calls for the launch of a federally managed effort to reach communities of color and target services to those who are overlooked by the current healthcare system.

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