The '08 STOP AIDS Platform

The AIDS crisis seems huge - almost too large to conceptualize, let alone devise a solution.

But we do know how to end AIDS, and our next President must do what it takes.

Health GAP and allies have developed a 10-point platform that the next President must support if she or he intends to truly fight to end the AIDS epidemic.

$50 Billion over 5 Years for Global AIDS

To endorse the platform, email 08.stop.aids@gmail.com with your organization's name, email, location (city, country).

Download the Platform

More than 40 million are living with HIV worldwide, and each year more than three million people die from AIDS. By 2010, there will be as many as 20 million children orphaned by AIDS. The infection rates in some impoverished countries are greater than 33%, and the impact of AIDS poses major humanitarian challenge to the United States. Within the United States, HIV/AIDS is disproportionately affecting people of color, and prevention and treatment are still underfunded; strong leadership is needed to defeat the epidemic. Global health diplomacy provides one key opportunity to renew internationally our ties to the world community. America's place in history will be determined by how well we respond to this still-expanding crisis at home and abroad.

To address HIV/AIDS and the factors underlying the epidemic, the undersigned organizations urge the President of the United States and other U.S. political leaders to:

1. Keep the promise of universal access to prevention, care and treatment  by providing at least $50 billion by 2013 for the fight against HIV/AIDS , doubling the number on treatment supported by the U.S. to at least four million (one-third of the people with AIDS in immediate need of medicine to survive) and contributing the U.S. fair share of the budget of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM)
   
   
2. Fund these HIV/AIDS programs as part of a commitment to direct at least an additional one percent of the U.S. budget toward meeting basic needs and fighting poverty in impoverished countries
   
   
3. Invest new resources to strengthen public health systems and to train and retain the numbers of health workers needed to meet and sustain international health goals the U.S. has committed to by 2015 and achieve minimum health workforce densities of 2.3 doctors and nurses per thousand residents in selected countries . This investment should be accompanied by new policies to address brain drain by expanding health training in the U.S.  and by discouraging active recruitment from impoverished countries
   
   
4. Support trade policies that protect and expand poor countries' right to affordable quality-assured  generic drugs for important health needs. Adopt humanitarian licensing policies that ensure drugs developed with taxpayer resources are available off-patent in developing countries
   
   
5. Implement comprehensive, integrated and evidence-based prevention policies that explicitly address the needs of all at-risk populations, including funding and technical support for universal access to male and female condoms, voluntary male circumcision, HPV vaccinations and prevention equipment and treatment for injection drug users as well as new expanded research on effective microbicides and vaccines; integrate sexual and reproductive health services with AIDS programs
   
   
6. Meet the needs of children orphaned and made vulnerable by AIDS through community-based support, including ensuring children a loving permanent home, food to nourish them, free public schools, laws and systems in place that protect them, access to medical care and training programs to learn how to make a living as adult
   
   
7. Promote the political and economic empowerment of women and girls by securing property and inheritance rights, access to universal education, and freedom from violence
   
   
8. Drop 100% of the debt of 67 of the most impoverished countries, while removing harmful conditions that delay relief, and reform policies that deny access to the poor and limit poor countries' national investments in health and education, including public sector wage caps, user fees and other policies barriers to access
   
   
9. Fight tuberculosis and malaria as part of a comprehensive plan to combat HIV/AIDS. The U.S. must work to achieve targets agreed by G8 leaders to reduce tuberculosis deaths and prevalence by 50% and reduce the malaria-related disease by 50% by 2010
   
   
10. Create an independent poverty-focused cabinet-level agency to ensure that poverty alleviation at home and abroad is as much a priority as defense or diplomacy. This agency would prioritize investments to reduce suffering in the most impoverished nations and communities, coordinating efforts between developing countries, local governments, other donors and multilateral institutions.

The undersigned organizations urge the President and U.S. political leaders to implement these recommendations:
 
15% Now Campaign, Int’l
ACORD, Agency for Cooperation and Research in Development, Kenya/Int’l
ACT UP New York, NY
ACT UP Philadelphia, PA
ActionAid International
Action AIDS, PA
Advocates for Youth, USA
Africa Action, USA
Africa Public Health Rights Alliance, Nigeria & UK
African Child Peace Initiative, Liberia
African Services Committee, Int’l
Agua Buena Human Rights Association, Costa Rica
Aid For AIDS Society, Nigeria
AIDS Action Council, USA
AIDS Foundation of Chicago, IL
AIDS Institute. USA
AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC), USA
AIDS Project Los Angeles, CA
American Jewish World Service, USA
American Medical Student Association (AMSA), USA
American Public Health Association, International Health Section, USA
Association for STDs, Poverty Alleviation and Computer Literacy Assistance (ASPCLA), Cameroon
BIENESTAR, CA
British Columbia Persons With AIDS Society (BCPWA), Canada
Bolivian Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (REDBOL), Bolivia
Camp Heartland, USA
Campaign to End AIDS, USA
Capitalize on Community, NY
Career Builders Initiative, Nigeria
Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE), USA
Coalition for Health Promotion and Social Development (HEPS), Uganda
Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP), USA
Community HIV/Hepatitis Advocates of Iowa Network  (CHAIN), IA
Community Working Group on Health, Zimbabwe
Constituency for Africa (CFA), USA
Dominican Sisters of Hope, NY
Edmundite Center for Peace and Justice, USA
END AIDS NOW! Int’l
European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG), Int’l
Foundation for Integrative AIDS Research (FIAR), NY
Friends of the Global Fund in Africa, Int’l
Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ)
Gay Men’s Health Crisis, NY
Global AIDS Alliance, USA
Global Campaign for Microbicides, Int’l
Global Camps Africa, USA
Global Justice, USA
Global Justice Ministry, Metropolitan Community Churches, NY
Global Network of People living with HIV-AIDS, North America
Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GYCA), Int’l
GUAHAN Project (Guam HIV/AIDS Network Project), Guam
Health GAP (Global Access Project), USA
HIVictorious, Inc., WI
Harvard AIDS Coalition, MA
Health Alliance International
Holy Cross International Justice Office, Int’l
Housing Works, NY
Israel AIDS Task Force, Isreal
In This Together New Orleans, LA
Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility, USA
Institute for the Study of Civic Values, PA
International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care, Int’l
International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW), Int’l
International Network of Religious Leaders Living with or Personally Affected by HIV and AIDS (INERELA+), Int’l
Intersect Worldwide, Int’l
Jesse M. Rohde Foundation, Int’l
Japan Network on Debt & Poverty (DebtNet), Japan
Japanese Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, Japan
Jubilee USA
KAIPPG International, USA + Kenya
Kitgum District Forum of People living with HIV/AIDS Network, Uganda
Knowledge Ecology International, Int’l
Live Alive Foundation, Nigeria
Mercy Investment Program, USA
Methodists Church of The Gambia
Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Justice Peace/Integrity of Creation Office, USA
Mothers Acting Up , USA
Muthaa Community Development Foundation, Kenya
National Physicians Alliance (NPA), USA
Naya Goreto, Nepal
NCW+ - Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria
NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, USA
Network of Zimbabwean Positive Women (NZPW+), Zimbabwe
New York Buyers' Club (NYBC), NY
Partners In Health, Int’l
Penn Action, PA
Physicians for Human Rights, USA
Presbyterian Church USA, Washington Office, USA
Priority Africa Network, CA
Raks Thai Foundation, Thailand
Red Argentina de Mujeres Viviendo con VIH/SIDA, Argentina
Red Argentina de Personas Viviendo con VIH/SIDA, Argentina
Union for Reform Judaism, USA
RESULTS, USA
Search For A Cure, MA
Sensibilisation de Proximité Pour les jeunes et Par les Jeunes (SPPJ), Cameroon
Share International, USA
Sisters of the Holy Cross, Congregation Justice Committee, IN
Sisters of Mercy, Regional Community of Detroit, MI
Situational Ministries Uganda
Society for Adolescents & Youth Int'l (SAYHI), Nigeria
Somaliland HIV/AIDS Network (SAHA), Somalia/Rep. of Somaliland
Somaliland National AIDS Commission (SOLNAC), Somalia/Rep. of Somaliland
South Carolina Campaign to End AIDS (SC-C2EA), SC
Southern African Treatment Access Movement (SATAMO), Int’l
Special Audiences, NJ
Stop the Silence, MD
Street Works, TN
Students And Youth Working on reproductive Health Action Team (SAYWHAT), Zimbabwe
Students for Education, Empowerment and Development (SEED), Canada
Student Global AIDS Campaign, USA
Students Partnership Worldwide (SPW), Zambia
Uganda Child Rights NGO Network (UCRNN), Uganda
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, USA
Universities Allied for Essential Medicine, USA
University Coalition for Global Health
Ursuline Sisters of Tildonk-U.S. Province, USA
VSO - Voluntary Service Overseas, Int’l
Washington Office on Africa , USA
Women's Center/Children's Center, NY
Women’s Equity in Access to Care and Treatment (WE-ACTx), Int’l
Women Rehabilitation and Development Association (WORDA), Somalia/ Rep. of Somaliland
WORLD (Women Organized to Respond to Life-threatening Diseases), CA
Youth Action Forum for Networking (YAFNet), Kenya
Youth Agenda Consortium, Kenya
Zimbabwe Activists on HIV/AIDS (ZAHA), Zimbabwe

Prestigious experts:
Allan Rosenfield, MD, Dean, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
Fitzhugh Mullan, MD, Murdock Head Professor of Medicine and Health Policy, George Washington University
Josh Ruxin, Assistant Clinical Professor of Public Health, Columbia University, Director, Millennium Villages Project Rwanda and The Access Project
His Eminence Seraphim Kykkotis, Greek Orthodox Archbishop, Johannesburg and Pretoria, South Africa, Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa
Stanley O. Foster MD, MPH, Professor of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health - Emory University
Dr Francoise Ndayishimiye, Secretetaire Executif Permanent du CNLS, GFTAM Board Member, Communities Delegation
Rev. Mpho Tutu, Board Chair, Global AIDS Alliance, USA
Philip L. Hougen, Bishop, Southeastern Iowa Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America