SUPPORT INCREASED FUNDING FOR HIV/AIDS PROGRAMS!

Please call or email your Representatives and ask them to join
Congressmen Leach (R-IA) and Delahunt (D-MA) in asking the
Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations
Subcommittee Chairman and Ranking Member to increase funding for
AIDS prevention, treatment and education programs.

Please act right away!

Dear Colleague:

Thanks to improvements in care and life-saving drug therapies,
many people with HIV/AIDS are living longer, more productive
lives. Yet as life expectancy increases, so does the cost of
care and treatment - placing ever-greater demands on state and
local governments and community-based organizations. It is
essential that funding for HIV/AIDS treatment and care reflect
the increasing numbers of clients these programs serve each
year, as well as the rising costs of health care services and
prescription drugs.

Unfortunately, the remarkable advances in medical treatments
have done nothing to stem the rise in new infections, especially
among adolescents, women, and minority communities. An estimated
850,000-950,000 people are living with HIV disease in our nation
and, of those individuals, approximately 404,000 are living with
AIDS. Communities of color now represent 30 percent of the U.S.
population, yet account for more than 70 percent of all new HIV
infections. In the last 10 years alone, the number of AIDS cases
among women has more than tripled, and over 80 percent of newly
HIV infected women are African American or Latina. Over the past
decade, HIV prevention funding has only kept up with the rate of
inflation as HIV/AIDS cases continue to rise.

The situation continues to demand strong federal leadership.
Many states are struggling with severe budget shortfalls. If we
fail, we will transfer even more financial burden to state and
local governments, with enormous human and economic costs. In
Fiscal Year 2005, Congress provided welcome increases for
domestic HIV/AIDS research, and treatment and global HIV/AIDS
programs. But more is needed if we are to combat this
ever-evolving epidemic and take full advantage of emerging
medical advances, new HIV testing technology, and science-based
prevention interventions.

Please join us in sending the letter below to Chairman Regula
and Ranking Member Obey in support of increased funding for
domestic HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and research and global
HIV/AIDS programs. To sign on, call Mary Andrus (Rep. Leach) at
5 - 6576 or Michele Jalbert (Rep. Delahunt) at 5-3111.

Sincerely,

______________________________________________

Dear Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member Obey:

We are writing to express our strong support for increased
funding for domestic and international HIV/AIDS research,
prevention, care and treatment programs for FY 2006. We are
mindful of the Committee's past commitment to these essential
programs, and hope we can count on your continued leadership
this year.

Thanks to improvements in care and effective drug therapies,
many people with HIV/AIDS are living longer, more productive
lives. Yet as increasing numbers of people with HIV/AIDS live
longer, the cost of their care and treatment places ever-greater
demands on state and local governments and community-based
organizations. It is essential that funding for HIV/AIDS
treatment and care reflect the increasing numbers of clients
these programs serve each year, as well as the rising costs of
health care services and prescription drugs.

As important as the new medications have been, they are
extremely expensive, have severe side effects with long-term
usage, and are ineffective in treating resistant strains of the
virus. Continued research is needed to provide better, more
affordable treatments -- and eventually, a vaccine or cure.

Ironically, the very success of the new drug therapies may
encourage some to believe that the epidemic has subsided, making
it harder than ever to reinforce the need for prevention among
those most at risk. There are currently 42 million people living
with HIV/AIDS in the world, and over 5 million people were newly
infected last year. In the United States, it is estimated that
there are 950,000 individuals living with HIV/AIDS -- a rate
that is expected to grow to 1 million within the next year.
Adolescents, women, and minority communities are particularly
hard hit by this epidemic. Every hour two people under the age
of 25 become infected with HIV. In the last decade alone, the
number of AIDS cases among women has more than tripled, and over
80 percent of newly HIV-infected women are African American or
Latina.

Congress provided much-needed increases for HIV/AIDS research
and treatment programs in FY 2005. However, this funding has not
kept pace with demand for services and costs of providing care.
At a time when many states are struggling with severe budget
shortfalls, leading to cuts in HIV/AIDS prevention, care and
treatment programs, a stronger federal commitment is critical.

Prevention:

Until research yields a vaccine or a cure, HIV prevention
strategies remain our best, and most cost-effective, weapon in
the fight against AIDS. Comprehensive HIV prevention programs,
funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
are effective in helping individuals adopt healthy behaviors and
avoid the transmission of HIV infection. It will cost a lifetime
average of $155,000 to care for each of the 40,000 Americans
who will be infected with HIV this year. Yet given adequate
resources, these new infections could be prevented through
effective community-based HIV strategies.

CDC's current HIV prevention initiative, "Advancing HIV
Prevention: New Strategies for a Changing Epidemic," seeks to
make HIV testing a routine part of medical care, implement new
models for diagnosing HIV infections outside medical settings,
prevent new infections by working with persons diagnosed with
HIV and their partners, and further decrease perinatal HIV
transmission. State and local health departments and
community-based organizations are eager to support the new
initiative; however, significant progress cannot occur without
an infusion of resources. The President's budget provides no new
domestic prevention funding for CDC to meet the objectives of
this new initiative. To effectively fight the spread of HIV/AIDS
in the United States, the nation's leading organizations
committed to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic, have called for an
increase of $386 million for a total of $1 billion for HIV
domestic prevention and surveillance activities at the CDC.

Care:

The Ryan White CARE Act provides resources to state and local
health departments and community-based organizations for primary
medical care, drug treatments and supportive services for
low-income, underserved people living with HIV/AIDS. The CARE
Act provides access to vital but costly new drug therapies that
have enabled many people to live longer, more productive lives,
and a continuum of services that help patients follow the
complicated treatment regimen that these new drugs require, and
without which they would be of little therapeutic benefit.

The demand for these services has continued to out-pace
available resources and steadily rising costs of medical care
and drug therapies have strained CARE Act programs to the
breaking point. According to national HIV/AIDS advocates, an
increase of $513 million is required to respond to this
situation. Unfortunately, the President's budget calls for flat
funding of all Titles of the CARE Act with the exception of a
minor $10 million increase in ADAP. We urge the Subcommittee to
provide the highest possible funding levels for CARE Act
programs for FY 2006. The HIV/AIDS community request for the
CARE Act programs break down as follows:

Title I (Part A): $115 million in additional funds for FY2006,
for a total of $725 million.

Title II (Part B): $50 million in additional funds for Title II
base services for FY2006 for a total of $384 million. Also, a
separate $303 million increase for ADAP, for a total of $1
billion.

Title III (Part C): $41 million in additional funds for FY2006,
for a total of $237 million.

Title IV (Part D): $41 million in additional funds for FY2006,
for a total of $113 million.

HIV/AIDS Education and Training Centers (Part F): $10 million
in additional funds for FY2006, for a total of $46 million

Dental Reimbursement Program (Part F): $6 million in additional
funds for FY2006, for a total of $19 million.

Minority AIDS Initiative:

Now in its fifth year, the Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative (MAI) is
a critical tool in the nation's efforts to eliminate health
disparities among ethnic and racial groups. Communities of color
now represent 30 percent of the U.S. population, yet account for
more than 70 percent of all new HIV infections. The MAI provides
targeted resources to expand the capacity of minority
community-based organizations and providers to deliver HIV/AIDS
prevention, care, and other services to their severely affected
communities. National HIV/AIDS advocates have recommended a
total of at least $610 million for this important initiative
for FY 2006. However, the President's budget flat-funds the MAI.
We urge the Subcommittee to do all that it can to provide the
highest possible funding for this vital program for FY 2006.

Research:

Aggressive, targeted research has led to important new
treatments and greatly increased our understanding of AIDS and
many other diseases - including other viruses and retroviruses,
hepatitis, osteoporosis, Alzheimer's, dementia, encephalitis,
and meningitis. In 1998, scientists and advocates for biomedical
research called for a doubling of the National Institutes of
Health's (NIH) budget over five years. Now that this goal has
been achieved, it is essential that appropriate funding levels
be maintained. Leading national health research advocates have
recommended a 6 percent increase for a total of $30 billion for
FY 2006 and we urge the Subcommittee to provide the highest
possible levels of support. In addition, to help ensure that
AIDS research dollars are spent in the most coordinated and
cost-effective manner, we urge the Subcommittee to provide a
consolidated appropriation to the Office of AIDS Research (OAR)
for distribution in accordance with the OAR director's strategic
plan.

Global HIV/AIDS Initiatives:

In 2003, President Bush announced the creation of the
President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which he stated
would include $15 billion over five years to address the global
HIV/AIDS pandemic. In FY2005, $2.92 billion was provided for
global HIV/AIDS programs. In his FY2006 Budget, the President
proposed $3.10 billion, an increase of $386 million over the
FY2005 funding level. We encourage the committee to continue its
support for the President's plan by including $4.7 billion for
global HIV/AIDS efforts. Multilateral efforts, specifically the
Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, will also play a
critical role. With HHS providing half of the U.S. contribution,
it is important that the U.S. continue to play a leadership
role. National HIV/AIDS advocates have recommended that the U.S.
provide at least $1.5 billion to the Global Fund in FY2006.

We commend the Subcommittee's longstanding support for AIDS
prevention, care and research, and urge you to give the highest
priority to meeting this continuing epidemic.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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