HRC gives failing
marks to U.S. for its AIDS response

The United States has done a poor job responding to the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, says national gay rights group Human Rights Campaign in its second annual World AIDS Day report card released Thursday. The report card rates the government's response to the crisis in four key areas: prevention, care and treatment, research, and global AIDS. "These grades are not simply letters in the alphabet; they are emblems of our government's failure to respond to one of the most devastating national and global health crises in history," said Joe Solmonese, HRC president. "Every hour, two young Americans become infected with HIV, and the government's irresponsible response is to cut funding and abandon science. The Bush administration and congressional leadership's response to this disease has been abysmal." The results are as follows: --Prevention: F As AIDS ravages minority communities, government programs are failing to adequately respond to the epidemic among vulnerable populations. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that approximately 46% of African-American men who have sex with men in five major U.S. cities are HIV-positive and that almost two thirds of those infected do not know their status. Infections among gay and bisexual men rose 8%; the group still makes up the largest percentage of new HIV cases. --Care and Treatment: F This year has seen significant cuts to federal HIV/AIDS treatment and care programs. After consistently flat-funding most of the Ryan White Act for five years and passing billions of dollars in cuts to Medicaid, a CDC study determined that 211,000 Americans are not receiving the antiretroviral treatments they need. --Research: D The most recent version of the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill contained an increase of less than 1% to the National Institutes of Health, the smallest percentage increase since 1970. --Global AIDS: C The highest mark on the report card goes to Global AIDS as Congress passed and the president signed the Assistance for Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Developing Countries Act this year. However, this year the United States will not fully meet its funding commitment to the Global Fund, and the U.S. government has mandated that at least one third of contributions to international programs must be devoted to abstinence-only programs, which many experts believe are seriously flawed and leave little control to local experts. (Advocate.com)