World AIDS Day Rally

Category:

Other

When:

Saturday, December 1, 2007 3:00 pm -
4:00 pm
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Where:

City Hall

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1 Dr Carlton B Goodlett Pl
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 701-2311

How:

Official Website

Cost:

Free

Submitted by:

Jennifer A.   See all of Jennifer A.'s events »

What/Why:

On World AIDS Day 2007, the American Medical Student Association is putting on an AIDS Awareness Rally to particularly gain support for PEPFAR reauthorization.  Anyone passionate about spreading awareness about HIV is encouraged to participate and make some noise.  

*Speakers include:*
Tom Ammiano - San Francisco Supervisor
Daniela Quintanilla - from US Representative Barbara Lee's office
Sophy Wong - UCSF Physician and Advocate
Michael Ehlert - AMSA National President
Vishal Patel - AMSA Global AIDS Fellow

RALLY
3:00pm
San Francisco City Hall Steps
(1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place)
MUNI/BART: Civic Center

Show your support to Reauthorize and Reform PEPFAR by committing at least $50 billion over 5 years to fight global AIDS, with $8 billion of funds going to train and retain health care workers, and striking the 1/3 abstinence-until-marriage funding earmark to support comprehensive, integrated, and evidence-based HIV prevention programs.

BACKGROUND:

LEADERSHIP is the theme of the 2007 World AIDS Day. Ten years after the first World AIDS Day, the AIDS pandemic is not slowing with a high of 4.3 million people becoming infected last year alone. Approximately 40 million people live with HIV or AIDS and we have lost 25 million lives to the pandemic since the virus was identified in 1981. 95% of the disease burden is in developing countries where their response is curtailed by limited resources.

Leaders from all walks of life challenging the status quo has led to the significant advances in response to HIV over the last decades. We need to pave the road to future advances and advocate so people from all around the globe have access to the knowledge and technologies we have developed to fight the pandemic.

Take the Lead: Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.

What is PEPFAR?
The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was a plan put forth by President Bush in 2003 that committed $15 billion over 5 years to fight global HIV/AIDS through prevention, HIV treatment, and care.  PEPFAR has been the centerpiece to the United State's AIDS relief efforts and reauthorization of this legislation is a priority. While this effort has made huge strides in combating the epidemic, it has many shortcomings that need to be rectified if the next five years are going to bring us anywhere close to overcoming this pandemic. The bill is up for reauthorization and we have an opportunity to shape the landscape of HIV prevention and treatment for 2009-2013.  PEPFAR reform is our focus for World AIDS Day 2007 because it is the single largest US effort to combat AIDS.

What do we want changed?
1) Increased funding for global HIV/AID: $50 billion over 5 years
Earlier this year President Bush announced that his proposal for PEPFAR reauthorization that would give $30 billion over the next 5 years.  Bush claimed that this amount was doubling the $15 billion from the previous 5 years, yet in 2007 alone we spent almost $6 billion. Thus if we continue the current $6 Billion over the next 5 years, $30 Billion is actually FLAT FUNDING ($6 billion X 5 years = $30 billion, get it?). The WHO calculated that the US's fair share contribution to fight the global AIDS pandemic (based on GDP) is $50 billion--anything less is insufficient funding.

2) Remove of the 1/3 earmark for abstinence-until-marriage funding
Studies have shown that abstinence-only education is NOT successful at preventing HIV infections.  Instead, we need to advocate for evidence-based prevention programs that use multiple approaches, including condom promotion, and can be tailored to local needs to successfully prevent new infections. Currently PEPFAR requires 1/3 of money spent on education be abstinence until marriage only provisions. We need to change the prevention strategy to an evidence based approach.

3) Support for African health care workers
One of the greatest bottlenecks in fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic is the lack of health care workers in developing countries to deliver the anti-retroviral treatment and perform HIV prevention education.  Africa has almost 25% of the world's disease burden but only 2.7% of the health care workers to combat it. By committing funds specifically to building the human health care capacity of African countries we allow these countries to effectively deal with the epidemic.

In addition to this march and rally in San Francisco, the American Medical Student Association is holding World AIDS Day marches and rallies in Chicago and Washington DC on November 30th.

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