With World AIDS Day approaching and the election decided, accusations regarding which demographic played the spoiler in the Democratic loss have begun to settle, and more pressing questions about how the Bush administration is going to tackle the concerns of people with HIV/AIDS are rising to the forefront.

December 1 marks the 16th Annual World AIDS Day. Started in 1988, World AIDS Day aims to bring awareness of the disease to the global stage.

This year’s theme is “Women and AIDS.” The theme is fitting, some say, since the latest statistics released from the Centers For Disease Control (CDC) state that from 1985 to 1999, AIDS cases reported among women have more than tripled.

The most dramatic increase has been in African-American and Hispanic women who, though they represent less than 25 percent of women in the United States, account for more than 78 percent of HIV cases reported to the CDC.

Houston AIDS charities are using the day to reflect on how far the fight has come and to gear up for the battles that lie ahead. In February of 2003, President George W. Bush unveiled a 5-year, $15 billion plan designed to stem the rampant spread of the virus, yet $9 billion of that money is earmarked for prevention and treatment overseas.

Ken Malone, Executive Director of The Assistance Fund, a local AIDS charity funded by the Ryan White CARE Act, said the battle should first be fought domestically.

“At the expense of going global, it has had an impact on local funding,” he said. “The CARE Act has been flat funded for the fourth year now…with an increase in infections that’s essentially a decrease in funding.”

Never was it made more clear where the issue of HIV/AIDS ranks in terms of political priority than at the vice presidential debate in October.

The moderator of the debate, Gwen Ifill, an African-American journalist, brought the subject of AIDS in the United States to the forefront when she asked about government’s responsibility in curbing the rampant spread of the disease among African-American women.

“I want to talk to you about AIDS…in this country, where black women between the ages of 25 and 44 are 13 times more likely to die of the disease than their counterparts,” Ifill said. “What should the government’s role be in helping to end the growth of this epidemic?”

Vice President Dick Cheney responded, “Here in the United States, we’ve made significant progress. I have not heard those numbers with respect to African-American women. I was not aware that it was—that they’re in epidemic there.”

Critics have asserted it is precisely that level of denial that has made offering realistic AIDS prevention education such a challenge.

Malone contends it’s not only a necessity that, “they turn their attention to domestic programs and policies,” but also analyze where funding is being channeled. Money that is funneled into faith-based programs has instilled in AIDS care providers a fear of what the next four years might hold.

Another problem cited by AIDS activists is the absence of generic drugs. Drugs manufactured overseas have considerably lower labor expenses and can be produced at a fraction of the cost of their brand name counterparts.

Doctors Without Borders and the Global Fund, two organizations caring for AIDS patients abroad, accept and use generics, but the United States has refused.

“It’s all highly political,” Malone said. “I would love to see us have access to lower cost drugs because there are a lot of people not getting treatment because of the cost, and that’s pretty sad.”

The pharmaceutical industry has played an integral role in President Bush’s success, contributing over $46 million to the Republican Party since the 2000 election cycle, according to numbers released by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Opponents of such policies ask that pharmaceuticals developed through grants funded by taxpayer money be made affordable to the average American, though that has yet to happen.

After Abbott Laboratories raised the price of its AIDS drug, Norvir, 400 percent, the government refused to step in despite accusations of price gouging.

Ideology vs. science
Another concern among activists is President Bush’s stacking of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS (PACHA) with members that advance a strict abstinence-only, anti-gay agenda, substituting ideology for medical science.

One of the most controversial appointees is Tom Coburn, co-chair of PACHA and Senator-elect from North Carolina. Coburn has a reputation for staunchly rejecting condoms as a means of HIV prevention.

In 2003, Coburn called for the firing of the of CDC director Jeffrey Koplan because of the organization’s promotion of condoms as a method of “safer sex.”

Coburn cautioned a group of Republicans this spring that, “The gay community has infiltrated the very centers of power in every area across this country and they wield extreme power. That agenda is the greatest threat to our freedom we face today. Why do you think we see the rationalization for abortion and multiple sexual partners? That’s a gay agenda.”

Almost a quarter of a century after the onset of HIV/AIDS, where do we stand?

Based on numbers released at the end of 2003 by the UNAIDS organization, from 1981 until the end of 2003, 20 million lives have been lost to AIDS. According to statistics from worldaidsday.org, in 2003 alone, nearly 5 million people acquired HIV, bringing the total to almost 38 million people living with HIV and AIDS.

AIDS currently claims more than 8,000 lives every day or 5 people every minute.

Locally, one in 90 Houstonians has HIV, with a new infection ocurring every six hours, according to AIDS Foundation Houston. David Mandell, AFH chief executive officer, said more than 60 new clients walk through the foundation’s doors each month seeking food, shelter, medications and social services.

Malone said he believes the solution lies in organizing resources among the most affected communities. While the demand for services continues, affected groups have not yet learned how to work together to combat the disease at home.

“Twenty years into the disease, we have lost the forward momentum” he said. “We need to re-invigorate the communities that need to fight this. The gay community, the black community and the Hispanic community have not worked together and until we come together on common ground and try to really solve the problem, I think we’re in for some really rough roads ahead.”

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