"We have a moral imperative to do much more, and do it much better."

“The loss from HIV/AIDS is almost beyond understanding. This is a fight for people’s lives. We have a moral imperative to do much more, and do it much better.”
– John Edwards

Click here for John Edwards' document released Spetember 18 in which he commits to creating a national HIV/AIDS strategy to fight AIDS domestically. Document can be found on the National AIDS Strategy website.



Sign yourself and your organization onto this national call to action for a National AIDS Strategy!

[from the National AIDS Strategy site]

AIDS is a national crisis. The next President of the U.S. should develop a results-oriented AIDS strategy.

The wealthiest nation in the world is failing its own people in responding to the AIDS epidemic at home. Consider that in the U.S.:

• Every year, 40,000 people are newly infected with HIV. The HIV infection rate has not fallen in 15 years.
• Over a million people are living with HIV. In 2002, an estimated half of people living with HIV/AIDS were not in care.
• African Americans represent 13% of the population but nearly half of all new HIV infections. In 2004, HIV/AIDS was the leading cause of death among black women ages 25 - 34.

The unsatisfactory outcomes from our country’s response to AIDS have serious human and economic costs. A study published in 2003 found that failure to meet the government’s then goal of reducing HIV infections by half would lead to $18 billion in excess expenses through 2010.

The U.S. must develop what it asks of other nations it supports in combating AIDS: a national strategy to achieve improved and more equitable results.

To be effective, a national AIDS strategy should…

• Improve prevention and treatment outcomes through reliance on evidence-based programming
• Set ambitious and credible prevention and treatment targets and require annual reporting on progress towards goals
• Identify clear priorities for action across federal agencies and assign responsibilities and timelines for follow-through
• Include, as a primary focus, the prevention and treatment needs of African Americans, other communities of color, gay men of all races, and other groups at elevated risk
• Address social factors that increase vulnerability to infection
• Promote a strengthened HIV prevention and treatment research effort
• Involve many sectors in developing the national strategy: government, business, community, civil rights organizations, faith based groups, researchers, and people living with HIV/AIDS