A strong ally in the White House…democrats in firm control of Congress–remember when this all looked so promising?
News that President Obama will seek a budget freeze has all of us at NAPWA waiting and worrying. An across-the-board freeze on HIV/AIDS programs would be devastating.
A freeze on CDC programs would fall $1 billion short of what the HIV/AIDS community believes is needed for effective programs, particularly for HIV prevention efforts which are already being gutted at the state level. Freezing funding for care programs under Ryan White would leave an $810 million gap in vital services. The Minority HIV/AIDS initiative could be underfunded by $207 million and housing programs by $75 million.
We hope these are worst case scenarios. We hope the president’s proposed freeze will be flexible enough to recognize that more people are in care today than ever before, and that until there’s a cure, there’s only prevention.
We’ll keep you informed with the latest. We know we have our work cut out for us. If you haven’t joined us in the fight, now is the time! Join NAPWA now!
As we wait, we will also have to step up our accountability for HIV prevention among HIV positive individuals. At some point, before we receive any more money, we will be asked: and what are people with HIV doing to prevent more infections?