House Adopts AHF Stimulus Funding Proposal for HIV Testing and Prevention
House Includes $355M for CDC for HIV/AIDS and STD Services in Stimulus Bill; Delegation of AHF Nurses and AIDS Patients from Florida Sought $300M in Stimulus Package for HIV Testing throughout Hard-hit Southern US During 55 Senate and Congressional Visits this Week
By: AIDS Healthcare Foundation
Washington, DC - January 16, 2009
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) lauded the United States House of Representatives today for adopting AHF’s proposal to appropriate $300 million in the pending economic stimulus legislation and dedicate it for HIV/AIDS prevention, testing and services. Yesterday, the Democratic leadership of Congress proposed $355 million for domestic HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis, STD and prevention programs as part of a $3 billion Prevention and Wellness Fund to prevent diseases and to reduce future healthcare costs. The funding proposal is included in the House of Representatives’ American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009. The legislation is a cornerstone of the economic recovery efforts being championed by President-elect Obama who is working closely with Congress to implement an effective and durable program for economic recovery nationwide.
Since the beginning of the week, more than a dozen AIDS Healthcare Foundation nurses, AIDS patients, and medical providers from Florida were in Washington for a series of 55 meetings on Capitol Hill with Senate and Congressional leaders to lobby Congress to include funding for HIV testing throughout the hard-hit South as part of the nation’s economic stimulus legislation. The visiting Florida delegation lobbied for funding for an expansion of the current Centers for Disease Control (CDC) HIV testing program to do over three million HIV tests in the next two years in order to find the 60,000 plus people currently infected with HIV but who don’t know it. AHF estimates that doing so will prevent at least 6,000 new infections, ultimately saving the government billions of dollars in medical costs.
“Congress has done the right thing by including funding for crucial public health programs in the stimulus,” said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “The CDC now estimates that there are 56,000 new infections each year, up from the previously-estimated 40,000 new cases per year. These infections result in billions of dollars in medical care and lost productivity of these individuals over the years, a fact that supports investing in prevention, testing and health care as part of a prudent overall legislative economic recovery package.”
“We are very pleased with the inclusion of funding for AIDS, STD, viral hepatitis and prevention services. But this House bill also contains $462 million for building construction at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” noted Whitney Engeran, III, Director of AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s Public Health Division. “Rates for many STDs are up dramatically, particularly among minorities and youth, as a new CDC report issued earlier this week documented. During our current economic downturn when so many people have lost jobs as well as health insurance coverage, AHF strongly urges legislators to reconsider funding building and reconstruction at the CDC and redirect that funding to other crucial initiatives within the CDC that actually help people in need.”
