February 2012 Archives

On World AIDS Day, December 1, 2011, President Barack Obama publicly pledged to make an "AIDS-free generation" part of his administration's legacy.

This past Monday, the president released his proposed Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 federal budget. In light of his recent promise, I hoped his proposed spending levels for both domestic and global HIV/AIDS would be sufficient to begin to end the pandemic.

They are not.


















































This photo and all others in this blog were taken by me on my last trip to Kenya. The HIV status of those in the photos is unknown. They were taken at a variety of health clinics that serve a variety of health conditions.

In fact, the president's proposed spending levels and the reallocation of funds for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) endanger the lives of people living with HIV--both at home and abroad.

At first brush, the president's budget suggested good news for people living with the virus stateside. Obama requested an additional $75 million in funding for Ryan White programs, including $67 million for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP); $30 million in HIV/AIDS prevention funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and $20 million to support care provided by HIV clinics across the country.

The president included a provision in the budget that if enacted into law would allow local communities the power to use federal funds for syringe exchange, a smart move that will help stop the spread of HIV and hepatitis among injection drug users. And, the budget rejects discretionary funding of failed abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education programs.
 
The president also proposed a $1.65 billion funding level for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; the increase of 26.9% would allow the U.S. to make good on its Global Fund pledge of $4 billion over 3 years. 

All these things are wonderful and speak to the president's desire to stop the illness and death caused unnecessarily by HIV.

But my job is to look the gift horse in the mouth. And when I did, things started to look less rosy.

I confess. I am totally addicted to the "Shit People Say" YouTube phenomenon. It started with "Shit Girls Say" and went wildly viral from there.

In the video above, "AIDS" is part of the "Shit Nobody Says." (Read to the bottom and see POZ's own video..."Shit People Say About AIDS.")

That AIDS is something nobody talks about is a large reason why we can't stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. It's not on the tips of our tongues nearly as much as it should be. Poking fun of it is one way to get the conversation started.

It happened the other night when, at a dinner party, my newly-divorced friend said she'd recently started dating. As she described her encounters with several different men another friend joked to her, "You better be careful or you'll end up on Regan's medications."

At first, I was stunned. Did someone just crack an AIDS joke? At my expense?

The whole table of 10 went silent. Everyone stared at me.

Normally, I don't encourage inter-AIDS-agency brawls and bets but this one is awesome because either way, people living with HIV win.

Check out the wager between AIDS Action Committee's president and CEO Rebecca Haag and Gay Men's Health Crisis' CEO Marjorie Hill.

Haag's rooting for the Patriots. Hill's pulling for the Giants.