Budget and Policy Challenges Loom in the Fight Against HIV/AIDS

On the very day Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius swears in new members of the President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA), AIDS advocates begin to grapple with the enormous challenges ahead in realizing President Barack Obama’s stated HIV-related goals without corresponding support for adequate HIV-related investments.

While President Barack Obama’s FY11 budget request to Congress, released on February 1, recommends nominal HIV/AIDS funding increases, none come close to matching levels needed to meet the president’s goals for the National HIV/AIDS Strategy. Read more reactions to the president’s budget proposal here.

With healthcare reform legislation stalled on Capitol Hill, advocates struggle for signs the president’s ambitious health and HIV agendas might be even remotely realized. Worse still, deepening budget cuts in states across the country threaten to roll back HIV-related prevention and care gains secured over the past 15 years.

AIDS advocates call on President Obama and congressional leaders to act quickly to approve the Senate-passed health reform bill with corresponding reconciliation legislation.

Send a message to Congress on health reform by clicking here.

Learn more about the president’s budget proposal and support advocacy to improve it here.

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Illinoisans Go to the Polls: AFC urges all eligible voters to exercise their right to participate in the democratic process during today’s primary election.

Candidate Positions on AIDS: Read Illinois candidates’ responses to the HIV and public health survey here.