| The US Global AIDS Plan |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Contact: Waheedah Shabazz-El, ACT UP Philadelphia, 267.231.2647
Michael Swigert, Africa Action, 703.472.4520
Sean Barry, NYC AIDS Housing Network, 646.373.3344
AIDS ADVOCATES INAUGURATE OBAMA AS THE PRESIDENT WHO WILL FINALLY CHANGE THE WAY THE U.S. FIGHTS AIDS
Activists Celebrate Obama’s Bold National and Global AIDS Platform, Urge Implementation in First 100 Days
(Washington, DC) – For the first time in recent memory, AIDS activists are marking World AIDS Day not by risking arrest in protests at the White House, but by lauding the next president for the hope he brings to those affected by the AIDS crisis. Today, one thousand people living with HIV and allies from across the United States rallied in front of the White House to hold an “inauguration ceremony” for Barack Obama as the president who, during his first one hundred days, will prioritize policies to end the AIDS epidemic in the U.S. and worldwide. To chants of “yes we can!” advocates assembled five giant puzzle pieces representing the key components of the National AIDS Strategy that President-elect Obama has pledged to develop. Activists then marched to the transition team headquarters where they congratulated the incoming administration on Obama’s bold commitments, and challenged the President-elect to prioritize implementation of his HIV/AIDS campaign promises from Day One.
“After twenty-seven years of the HIV epidemic, no president has made fighting AIDS at home and abroad a real priority for his administration,” said NYC AIDS Housing Network member Wayne Stark, who spoke at the rally. “President Bush all but ignored the AIDS crisis in the United States, even while the epidemic continued to grow, especially in marginalized communities. And, in spite of recent progress in beginning to remove ideological strings attached to global prevention funding, the U.S. continues to limit how organizations on the ground in poor countries can fight HIV. President Obama has thankfully said he will bring change to the U.S. AIDS approach.”
President-elect Obama has made historically bold commitments to reform and expand U.S. AIDS policies. His campaign promised to develop a National AIDS Strategy that includes guaranteed treatment and care for all people with HIV in the US. The campaign pledge goes on to detail a commitment to housing as an integral part of HIV services, an end to the federal ban on funding for syringe exchange, and a call to redirect abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education funding into honest and accurate programs like comprehensive HIV prevention programs.
Internationally, Obama has promised to build on President Bush’s global AIDS plan by removing the ideological strings the Bush administration attached to prevention funding. Specifically, Obama has committed to end the Prostitution Loyalty Oath and to support an evidence-based approach to HIV prevention that doesn’t overly emphasize abstinence and fidelity at the expense of condoms. He has also pledged to increase funding for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, a multilateral program which fights the three killer diseases in over 170 countries and which is facing a major funding shortfall.
“We know President-elect Obama faces challenges, including a financial crisis, but fighting AIDS must be a top priority” said ACT UP Philadelphia member Waheedah Shabazz-el, who spoke at the rally. “We are holding an inauguration ceremony because we share his vision of hope and change, and to show our support for implementation, in his first 100 days, of the visionary commitments Obama has made to fight AIDS in the U.S. and around the world.”
Today’s Inauguration was organized by ACT UP Philadelphia, Africa Action, African Services Committee, American Medical Student Association (AMSA), Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP), Health GAP, Housing Works, NYC AIDS Housing Network (NYCAHN), Proyecto Sol Filadelphia, Student Global AIDS Campaign and VOCAL-NY Users Union. A list of over 70 endorsing organizations can be found at www.100daystofightaids.org/endorsements . Obama’s AIDS Plan, released during the campaign, can be found at www.barackobama.com/pdf/AIDSFactSheet.pdf.
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