by Laura Whitehorn for POZ Are the federal Centers for Disease Control ramping up or down on HIV prevention? The CDC fell way short of its 2001 target of reducing new HIV cases by 50 percent over five years—rates are up in some communities and barely down in others. But in March, the agency kicked up some excitement by announcing a “heightened response” to the HIV emergency among African Americans, a major prevention push that would boost testing and outreach from coast to coast in the hard-hit black community. Then earlier this month, the overall 50 percent target was quietly shaved to 10 percent. Confusion reigned—and AIDS advocates sounded an alarm.
A slew of prevention workers interviewed by POZ say the drop to a 10 percent goal will undermine fund-raising for their programs and shred progress made so far on stemming the epidemic. “It feels as though the CDC has given up” on HIV prevention, says Ruth True, who coordinates HIV testing and counseling at AIDS Services of Austin. Mark McLaurin of the New York State Black Gay Network says, “We’ve lost a weapon—even if it’s just rhetorical—to fight for more programs and more funding.” Adds David Munar at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, “How do we ask Congress to increase funding for prevention if the CDC puts forward this message that reducing infections is not achievable?”
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