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Tuesday, February 3, 2004

POLITICS AND POLICY
========================================
1. Bush's FY 2005 Budget Proposal Requests $2.8B for
International AIDS, TB, Malaria Programs

GLOBAL CHALLENGES
========================================
2. UNAIDS, Actress Emma Thompson, Other Prominent Women Launch
Global Coalition on Women and AIDS

ACROSS THE NATION
========================================
3. Some California Prison Inmates Oppose Integration With
HIV-Positive Inmates

4. Owensboro, Ky., Churches Hold HIV/AIDS Awareness Event

PUBLIC HEALTH & EDUCATION
========================================
5. NPR's 'Tavis Smiley Show' Interviews Black AIDS Advocates
About National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day Feb. 7

6. Christian Science Monitor Examines U.S.-Style Summer Camps
for Children Affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa

****************************************

POLITICS AND POLICY

1. Bush's FY 2005 Budget Proposal Requests $2.8B for
International AIDS, TB, Malaria Programs

Access this story and related links online:
http://cme.kff.org/Key=1785.Cbt.D.D.Cxl4nD

President Bush on Monday submitted his $2.4 trillion fiscal
year 2005 budget proposal, including funding for international
and domestic HIV/AIDS programs, Reuters reports (Entous/Bohan,
Reuters, 2/2). The proposal requests $2.8 billion for
international HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria programs, USA
Today reports (Benedetto et al, USA Today, 2/3). That amount
includes $1.45 billion for the new State Department Office of
the Global AIDS Coordinator, headed by Randall Tobias (Marquis,
New York Times, 2/3). Under the proposed budget, the U.S.
contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Malaria would be reduced from nearly $550 million in FY 2004 to
$200 million in FY 2005. For FY 2004, Congress approved $2.4
billion for international AIDS, TB and malaria programs, $400
million more than Bush had requested (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS
Report, 1/29). The FY 2005 proposal also includes $2.5 billion
-- a "big chunk of ... new money" -- for the Millennium
Challenge Account, an assistance program for developing nations
that encourages democracy and development through economic aid,
according to the Washington Post (Kessler, Washington Post,
2/3).

Reaction

With a FY 2005 request of $2.8 billion for global AIDS programs,
more than $9 billion must be committed to the AIDS relief plan
over the next three years to meet Bush's promise of $15 billion
over five years, which he made during his 2003 State of the
Union address, according to USA Today. However, the
administration said that the funding request is "right on track"
to meet the five-year, $15 billion goal, according to USA Today.
AIDS advocates said that Bush should "put up all the money he
promised," USA Today reports (USA Today, 2/3). Jamie Drummond,
executive director of the debt, AIDS and trade advocacy group
DATA, said that Bush's FY 2005 budget request "aggressively
supports exciting new bilateral initiatives on AIDS and poverty.
But it reduces funding for the multilateral Global Fund to Fight
AIDS by more than half -- down to the level of France's
contribution. DATA will work with the administration and
Congress to fully fund the Global Fund, as well as the bilateral
AIDS program and the Millennium Challenge, without cuts to other
live-saving programs" (DATA release, 2/2). The International
Association of Physicians in AIDS Care said in a statement that
Bush and Congress should "shore up funding" for AIDS, TB and
malaria programs. Although both the FY 2004 and FY 2005 budgets
include "significant increases" from FY 2003 spending levels,
"the request still does not meet the tremendous global need,"
according to the release. IAPAC President and CEO Jose Zuniga
said that if the administration has concerns about the Global
Fund, "they are better to articulate them, and to work with the
global community to find remedies, as opposed to hastily
withdrawing support from this promising institution" (IAPAC
release, 2/2).

Domestic Funding

Except for "meager" increases for the Ryan White CARE Act AIDS
Drug Assistance Program and the Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative,
the FY 2005 budget proposal "continues to underfund the domestic
and global" effort to combat HIV/AIDS, the AIDS Foundation of
Chicago said in a statement. According to AFC, the FY 2005
budget includes a $35 million increase for ADAP, bringing the
program's total appropriation to $783 million for the fiscal
year. However, that amount is $284 million short of projected
needs, according to AFC. "Thousands of HIV-positive people will
be denied access to care, which will simply worsen our nation's
AIDS crisis," AFC Associate Director David Munar said. AFC
Executive Director Mark Ishaug asked, "How can we possibly
reduce the 40,000 infections each year in this country without a
greater financial commitment to proven prevention programs?"
(AIDS Foundation of Chicago release, 2/2). AIDS Healthcare
Foundation President Michael Weinstein said that the ADAP
funding included in the FY 2005 budget proposal is "insufficient
to address waiting lists, capped enrollments, and other
restrictions in 15 states and increased costs and utilization in
others," adding, "We call on Congress to appropriate enough
funding to ensure that poor people with HIV will have the
medications they need to stay alive" (AHF release, 2/2).

Prevention

"Americans living with HIV want and need more from the
president," AIDS Action Executive Director Marsha Martin said,
adding that budget increases for HIV/AIDS programs "have to be
significant, not merely symbolic of his compassion" (AIDS Action
release, 2/2). According to a statement from the Human Rights
Campaign, the proposal requests $696 million for HIV/AIDS
prevention programs under CDC for FY 2005, representing a
"slight increase" of $1 million over FY 2004 spending but $4
million less than FY 2003 levels. "We are extremely disappointed
that President Bush has proposed spending $4 million less than
our nation did two years ago on critical HIV/AIDS prevention
programs," HRC President Cheryl Jacques said, adding, "With
approximately 40,000 new infections each year in our nation, we
cannot go backward in our commitment to preventing new HIV/AIDS
infections. ... We must strengthen the entire range of federal
HIV/AIDS programs" (HRC release, 2/2). AIDS Project Los Angeles
Executive Director Craig Thompson said, "We understand the
enormous demands on this budget, especially for increases in
funding for national security. But protecting the country
against AIDS is also part of national security." He added, "The
administration is scaling back on domestic AIDS funding just as
the epidemic may be showing signs of resurgence" (APLA release,
2/2).

Abstinence Funding Doubles

The FY 2005 budget proposal also includes $270 million for
abstinence education programs, Reuters reports (Kenen, Reuters,
2/2). During his State of the Union speech last month, Bush
called for the doubling of federal funding for abstinence
programs to fight sexually transmitted diseases. Bush said, "To
encourage right choices, we must be willing to confront the
dangers young people face -- even when they're difficult to talk
about. Each year, about three million teenagers contract
sexually transmitted diseases that can harm them, or kill them,
or prevent them from ever becoming parents. In my budget, I
propose a grassroots campaign to help inform families about
these medical risks. We will double federal funding for
abstinence programs, so schools can teach this fact of life:
Abstinence for young people is the only certain way to avoid
sexually transmitted diseases." He added, "Decisions children
now make can affect their health and character for the rest of
their lives. All of us -- parents and schools and government --
must work together to counter the negative influence of the
culture and to send the right messages to our children" (Kaiser
Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 1/21). The FY 2005 budget also includes
funding for initiatives to promote "healthy marriages" (Reuters,
2/2).

NPR's "Morning Edition" on Tuesday reported on Bush's FY 2005
budget proposal, including funding for HIV/AIDS and Medicare.
The segment includes comments from David Moore, board member for
the Coalition for Health Funding and president of the
Association of American Medical Colleges; Rep. John Spratt Jr.
(D-S.C.); and HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson (Rovner, "Morning
Edition," NPR, 2/3). The complete segment is available online in
RealPlayer.

GLOBAL CHALLENGES

2. UNAIDS, Actress Emma Thompson, Other Prominent Women Launch
Global Coalition on Women and AIDS

Access this story and related links online:
http://cme.kff.org/Key=1785.Cbt.F.D.DHpb5V

British actress Emma Thompson, UNAIDS Executive Director Peter
Piot and former Irish President Mary Robinson on Monday launched
the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS to raise awareness and
increase HIV/AIDS education among women in developing countries,
the PA News/Scotsman reports (Moss, PA News/Scotsman, 2/2). The
coalition will bring together advocates, government
representatives, celebrities and community workers to eradicate
violence against women, expand their access to education,
strengthen their inheritance and property rights and ensure fair
access to HIV prevention and care services (Piot/Thompson, BBC
News, 2/2). Women represent about half of all HIV-positive
people worldwide. In sub-Saharan Africa, women represent 58% of
HIV-positive people, and young women ages 15 to 24 are 2.5 times
more likely to be infected than young men. Women's increased
vulnerability to HIV is primarily due to "inadequate knowledge,
... insufficient access to HIV prevention services, inability to
negotiate safer sex, and a lack of female-controlled HIV
prevention methods, such as microbicides," according to a
coalition press release (Global Coalition on Women and AIDS
release, 2/2). In addition, women are more vulnerable to HIV
because the virus is more easily transmitted from men to women
and because women generally have sex earlier and with older
partners, according to Reuters (Reaney, Reuters, 2/2).

Reaction

"We have to put this power into the hands of women. It is not
that I want to exclude men in tackling this ... but we do have
to place emphasis on women having jurisdiction over their own
bodies," Thompson said. "All too often, HIV prevention is
failing women and girls. Because of their lack of social and
economic power, many women and girls are unable to negotiate
relationships based on abstinence, faithfulness and use of
condoms," Piot said (PA News/Scotsman, 2/2). He added that women
"are infected by their only sexual partner, their husband or
their regular boyfriend. Marriage doesn't protect against HIV"
(Boseley, Guardian, 2/3). Piot said, "It is precisely to address
these inequalities and reduce women's vulnerability to HIV that
the coalition has been created." Robinson said, "This is the
black plague of this century and it is particularly affecting
women. This coalition must make a difference" (PA News/Scotsman,
2/2). The coalition will be operated by a steering committee of
28 people involved with AIDS initiatives, including Musimbi
Kanyoro, secretary-general of the World Young Women Christian
Association in Kenya; Justice Edwin Cameron from South Africa;
Asma Jahangir, a lawyer and special rapporteur of the U.N.
Commission on Human Rights in Pakistan; Marta Suplicy, mayor of
Sao Paulo, Brazil; and Iman Bibars, chair of the Association for
the Development and Enhancement of Women in Cairo (Suri, Inter
Press Service, 2/2).

ACROSS THE NATION

3. Some California Prison Inmates Oppose Integration With
HIV-Positive Inmates

Access this story and related links online:
http://cme.kff.org/Key=1785.Cbt.G.D.DCpn8P

Some inmates at the California Institution for Men in Chino,
Calif., are opposed to a desegregation proposal that would move
them into a housing unit with HIV-positive inmates, the
Riverside Press-Enterprise reports. Prison officials say that
the move, which is scheduled to take place this month, is
necessary to save money and prevent overcrowding, according to
the Press-Enterprise. Officials say that the Del Norte building,
which was built in the 1980s specifically to house HIV-positive
inmates, now has available space because the number of
HIV-positive inmates has declined. Prison official Sgt. Arioma
Sams said that the prison's east yard permanent work crew is
opposed to the move but added that they "already coexist in the
yard" with HIV-positive inmates, attending classes and visiting
hours together, the Press-Enterprise reports. A letter sent to
the Press-Enterprise claiming to be from the inmates said that
HIV-positive and HIV-negative inmates working together and
living together are "two very separate ideas" and expressed
concerns about HIV exposure and exposure to hepatitis and
tuberculosis. California Department of Corrections spokesperson
Terry Thornton said that the general populations of several of
the state's 32 other prisons integrate HIV-positive inmates,
adding that her department supports HIV/AIDS testing and
education because of high-risk behavior among some inmates,
according to the Press-Enterprise. She added, "Many inmates
don't know if they are HIV-positive or not." According to the
corrections department, 1.4% of the state's 160,000 inmates were
HIV-positive in 2002, the Press-Enterprise reports (Frith,
Riverside Press-Enterprise, 1/30).

4. Owensboro, Ky., Churches Hold HIV/AIDS Awareness Event

Access this story and related links online:
http://cme.kff.org/Key=1785.Cbt.H.D.Cd499N

Several churches in Owensboro, Ky., on Sunday held an HIV/AIDS
awareness event targeting the city's black and Hispanic
residents, the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer reports. The event,
which was held at the Cedar Street Missionary Baptist Church,
was coordinated by the churches and local and state AIDS
advocates. Walter McClain, a disease intervention specialist
with the state Department for Public Health, said that because
"people turn to churches for support and guidance, the church
[is] a good place to talk to the community about AIDS,"
according to the Messenger-Inquirer. Most new HIV infections in
the state occur among black and Hispanic women between the ages
of 23 and 35, according to Nick Sauer, a program manager for the
Owensboro Area HIV/AIDS Task Force. Blacks represented 29% of
the total number of AIDS cases in the state as of June 2003.
"The main focus of this is just to start making people aware,"
Task Force President Robbie Stone said, adding, "It mainly goes
untalked about" (Mayse, Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer, 2/2).

PUBLIC HEALTH & EDUCATION

5. NPR's 'Tavis Smiley Show' Interviews Black AIDS Advocates
About National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day Feb. 7

Access this story and related links online:
http://cme.kff.org/Key=1785.Cbt.J.D.Chyp3r

NPR's "Tavis Smiley Show" on Monday included an interview with
Erylene Piper-Mandy, executive director of the Center for Cross
Cultural Competence, and Phill Wilson, executive director of the
Black AIDS Institute, in anticipation of National Black HIV/AIDS
Awareness Day on Feb. 7. According to Smiley, health and human
service agencies nationwide this week are participating in
activities related to HIV/AIDS awareness as part of a "count
down" to Saturday. In 2002, blacks accounted for 13% of the U.S.
population but 42% of HIV diagnoses, according to NPR. In
addition, black U.S. residents are nine times more likely to be
HIV-positive than white U.S. residents, NPR reports. According
to Wilson, HIV/AIDS is "still a difficult thing for black folks
to talk about" and discussion of the issue "consistently is
framed by other folks." Wilson said, "Unless and until we
develop the infrastructure and capacity to talk about AIDS in a
way that resonates with us, we're not going to solve this
problem. And that is one of the reasons why National Black AIDS
Awareness Day is so important -- it's about black folks talking
about an issue that is killing us in a language that we
understand." Piper-Mandy agreed that "African people have to
begin to look at solutions for HIV/AIDS themselves." Wilson and
Piper-Mandy also discussed the debate between allocating
resources to research and development into HIV/AIDS treatments
and vaccines versus spending funding on HIV/AIDS education,
prevention and testing, as well as whether there is a
"systematic lack of attention" to black health issues. Wilson
also discussed the Rap-It-Up/BASS Black AIDS Short Subject Film
Competition, a contest awarding $25,000 to black short film
makers aimed at increasing HIV/AIDS awareness within black
communities and sponsored by BAI, BET and the Kaiser Family
Foundation (Smiley, "Tavis Smiley Show," NPR, 2/2).

The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer.

6. Christian Science Monitor Examines U.S.-Style Summer Camps
for Children Affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa

Access this story and related links online:
http://cme.kff.org/Key=1785.Cbt.K.D.Cj6dLq

The Christian Science Monitor on Tuesday examined how
U.S.-style summer camps are helping some South African children
affected by HIV/AIDS escape their "difficult lives in the hard
world of South Africa's townships and squatter camps." Aid
organizations are bringing the camps, which are modeled after
U.S. summer camps for "sick or troubled" children, to South
Africa, Zimbabwe and Malawi, the Monitor reports. While allowing
the children to "just be kids" through activities such as soccer
and arts and crafts, the camps also aim to provide daily
life-skills training through classes on AIDS prevention and
respect. Thabanga Mpanza, a 15-year-old boy who attended the
Sizanani camp outside of Johannesburg, said, "We're just taking
part to see where it can take us. Because most of our friends
are committing themselves into crime and doing things that they
are not supposed to be doing -- so we just wanted to get off the
streets" (Itano, Christian Science Monitor, 2/3).

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