Is The AIDS Crisis Over in the United States?
In President Bush’s 2007 State of the Union Address last night, he mentioned the HIV/AIDS epidemic, as in previous years. This is good news given widespread apathy towards and lack of urgency about the still-raging epidemic in the United States. The disappointing, shocking news is that the President was silent on the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic, missing an invaluable opportunity to counter apathy and foster solutions to end the epidemic. Especially missing were proposals to address and meet the needs of the most vulnerable and marginalized populations affected by HIV/AIDS.
Certainly HIV/AIDS is a worldwide pandemic that demands a United States response. President Bush noted the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief’s (PEPFAR) work and called for Congress to continue its funding, without requesting increased funding. The HIV/AIDS pandemic, however, does not exclude the U.S.
Today in the U.S., approximately 40,000 new cases of HIV infection occur each year, overwhelmingly among people of color. A 2006 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that nearly 50% of urban black gay men are HIV positive and that over 60% of those men did not know that they were infected. Background materials released by the White House before the President’s speech noted the high prevalence of HIV infection among intravenous drug users.
Why was there no acknowledgment of these or other realities of HIV/AIDS in the U.S. in the President’s address? Why were there no bold, new proposals for stopping the epidemic here in the U.S., for example, calling on Congress to lift the ban on federal funding for syringe exchange?
Through PEPFAR, the U.S. expects other countries to have a national strategy to combat HIV/AIDS. The American people, after over 25 years, deserve no less. What we do not deserve is shameful silence from the President on HIV in the United States.
