After two-and-a-half years in office, President Obama has little to show on AIDS domestically or globally. Under Obama, US AIDS
programs have been starved.
Today, more than 8,600 Americans in thirteen states are on waiting lists, denied lifesaving AIDS drugs from hard-hit state AIDS
Drug Assistance Programs (ADAP). Additional thousands are being disenrolled entirely as states change their patient eligibility criteria.
As wait lists grew to the highest numbers ever seen, Obama squandered fifteen months drafting a national AIDS strategy instead
of addressing the crisis at hand. And by not honoring the US' commitment to the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR),
Obama also slowed remarkable progress made on global AIDS. All this at a time of the greatest hope on AIDS: new studies show that AIDS
treatment can reduce the transmission of new HIV infections by 96%.
When campaigning for President, then-Senator Obama promised to "provide at least $50 billion by 2013 for the global fight against
HIV/AIDS . . . in order to at least double the number of HIV-positive people on treatment and continue to provide treatments
to one- third of all those who desperately need them."
As President, Obama has not honored that promise, refusing to fully-fund PEPFAR, the landmark U.S. global AIDS funding bill created by
President George W. Bush in 2003.
Not only is Obama's failure to lead on AIDS threatening the lives of thousands of Americans and countless others worldwide, it also
hurts efforts to prevent the spread of the disease.
Now, what will the President do on AIDS?
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ABOUT AIDS Healthcare Foundation
Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is a global organization providing cutting-edge medicine and advocacy
to over 100,000 people in 22 countries. It is the nation's largest provider of HIV/AIDS medical
care. www.aidshealth.org
