ACT UP pushing post-Bush AIDS initiatives
By Paul Davis
© 2007 Paul Davis

In 2003, President Bush’s State of the Union Address surprised many with an ambitious promise to invest $15 billion over five years to support AIDS prevention and treatment for 15 of the world’s most impoverished countries, 12 of them in Africa. This announcement was no surprise to ACT UP Philadelphia, whose members had been deeply involved in a nationwide drive to launch a presidential AIDS initiative.

In the four years since, Congress is on course to have spent $19 billion by the end of this congressional session due to relentless pressure by AIDS activists from around the country and world — especially here in Philadelphia, where ACT UP and many other AIDS organizations have continued to pressure elected officials like Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who sits on some of the most relevant committees in Congress. This year alone, the United States will contribute almost $6 billion to fight AIDS in poor countries.

In 2003, the White House committed to support treatment for two million people with HIV — about one-third of the number of people with HIV who were in immediate clinical need. This historic commitment silenced critics and drew praise for being equivalent to the United State’s “fair share,” since the U.S. is about one-third of the global economy.

This U.S. global AIDS initiative expires and will need to be reauthorized next year, and will be revisited by the next president. In May, Bush laid out his proposals for what the second five years of this program should look like. ACT UP Philadelphia bitterly criticized him for proposing to essentially flat-fund the program and dramatically reduce the rates of treatment scale-up, transforming a five-year program to treat two million people with HIV into a 10-year program to treat only 2.5 million people.

“Fortunately, outgoing President Bush doesn’t really get to decide what the next five years of U.S. global AIDS initiatives will look like,” said ACT UP member Jose DeMarco. “We need to keep our solemn promises to countries in jeopardy and support treatment for our share of the millions who will die if we reduce our support.” DeMarco is also on the board of Health GAP, a Philadelphia-based national group that works in Washington, D.C., and internationally with groups like ACT UP to win support for global AIDS policies to turn back the epidemic.

At the request of members of Congress, ACT UP members are involved in drafting the legislation to reform and improve U.S. global AIDS efforts, including more than doubling the numbers on treatment, reversing controversial Bush-era “abstinence-only” prevention policies and launching new investments to train enough health workers to fight HIV/AIDS in countries where there are far too few doctors and nurses to meet or sustain U.S. pledges on treatment or prevention. ACT UP members also organized a fiery 500-person march on the Democratic debates at Drexel last month that secured written pledges from Sens. Clinton, Obama and Biden for $50 billion for global AIDS over the next five years — a $20-billion increase over proposed Bush funding levels.

To get involved in this fast-paced campaign to impact Congress and 2008 presidential candidates, contact ACT UP at (215) 386-1981 or e-mail pdavis@healthgap.org.