Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2009. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Washington Blade - March 2, 2009
Lou Chibbaro Jr.
The White House said the administration would release the full details of the budget, including a breakdown of proposed spending for specific programs, including health programs, in April.
"The budget increases resources to detect, prevent, and treat HIV/AIDS domestically, especially in underserved populations," the budget summary released on April 26 states.
Officials with AIDS advocacy groups said they were optimistic about the president's plans for domestic AIDS programs, especially coming on the heels of the Bush administration, which the groups have criticized for not devoting enough attention HIV prevention efforts in the United States.
"President Obama is following through in his commitment to fighting domestic HIV/AIDS by singling out in his FY10 budget blueprint increased resources" for domestic AIDS programs, said Michael Ruppal, interim executive director of the AIDS Institute, a national AIDS advocacy group.
"This is refreshing news since funding for domestic HIV prevention is flat funded this year and the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program will receive only a 3.4 percent increase, far below what is actually needed," Ruppal said.
The AIDS Institute and other AIDS groups noted that the president released his summary budget blueprint on the same day that the White House announced it had hired Jeffrey Crowley, a gay health research scholar, as director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy.
Crowley is a senior research scholar at Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute and a former official at the National Association of People With AIDS. National gay and AIDS groups have called Crowley's appointment an important signal by the Obama administration that it plans to allocate more resources for the country's domestic AIDS programs and develop a new, coordinated strategy for HIV prevention and treatment programs.
The release of Obama's summary for the fiscal year 2010 budget came less than a week after Congress agreed to a compromise fiscal year 2009 appropriations bill that included a modest increase in funding for the Ryan White AIDS treatment program while providing no increase in funding for HIV prevention efforts.
Fiscal year 2009 began Oct. 1, 2008. As it has in past years, Congress was unable to complete work on the fiscal year 2009 budget in time for the start of the fiscal year. Democratic and Republican leaders passed a continuing resolution to fund the government at the same level as in fiscal year 2008 while completing work on the fiscal 2009 appropriations measure.
"The FY09 Omnibus Appropriations bill is a mixed bag for domestic HIV/AIDS," said Carl Schmid, the AIDS Institute's director of federal affairs. "While we are pleased to see some increased funding for care and treatment in the Ryan White HIV Program, we are very disappointed that Congress is flat funding domestic HIV prevention at the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]," Schmid said.
"This on top of a $3.5 million cut to prevention programs last year and after a report by the CDC that new HIV infections stand at 56,300 per year, or 40 percent higher than previous estimates."
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