Health News
2005-09-28
New coalition
launches campaign to reauthorize Ryan White Act
Four national
AIDS organizations have launched the Ryan White ACTION
(AIDS Care and Treatment In Our Nation) Campaig
Four national
AIDS organizations have launched the Ryan White ACTION
(AIDS Care and Treatment In Our Nation) Campaign to raise
public awareness of the need to renew the Ryan White
Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act. The Ryan
White Act, which expires September 30, funds federal
and state government programs for poor, uninsured, and
underinsured HIV-positive Americans. Congress is unlikely to
renew the program by September 30, but the program
will continue to operate in its current form over the
next several months until legislation is approved.
The RWAC
coalition consists of the AIDS Institute, the HIV Medicine
Association, the American Academy of HIV Medicine, and the
National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS
Directors. The launch of the campaign was announced
Monday by Jeanne White-Ginder, the mother of the late
Ryan White and a board member of the AIDS Institute.
"We urge the
Congress to move expeditiously, and, more important, for
the Congress and the Administration to provide adequate
funding for the CARE Act so that everyone who is in
need of these lifesaving medications and medical care,
no matter where they live, can have the chance to stay
alive," White-Ginder said in a press release.
RWAC is concerned
not only about timely approval of a new bill but also
in broadening and expanding the existing programs under the
CARE Act, say campaign members. The program has been
flat-funded for the past several years, which
coalition members say does not keep up with changes in the
spread of the HIV epidemic in recent years. New infections
tend to be concentrated among poor and minority
populations and people without health insurance. And
while urban areas continue to account for the largest
concentration of infections, the virus is rapidly spreading
into rural areas, particularly in the South.
The media
campaign will begin immediately and run until Congress has
renewed the Ryan White Act for another five years,
organizers say. (Advocate.com)
Click here to follow The Advocate on Twitter.
Page 1 of 1