Subject: STATEMENT: Senator Clinton on National Black HIV Awareness Day
From: "Clinton, Press Office (Clinton)" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2008 15:35:46 -0500

For Immediate Release

February 7, 2008

Contact:

Clinton Press Office 202-224-2243 or 

[email-masked]

 

STATEMENT OF SENATOR HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON ON NATIONAL BLACK HIV
AWARENESS DAY

 

WASHINGTON, DC - Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton released the following
statement today:

"Today, our nation marks National Black HIV Awareness Day. This
commemoration provides us with the opportunity to highlight the
disproportionate impact of the AIDS epidemic among the African-American
community, and recommit ourselves to doing all we can to halt and
reverse this epidemic in the United States.

The black community is bearing the brunt of AIDS in our country,
accounting for almost half of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses in the United
States. According to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, AIDS diagnoses among black men are 8 times
higher than their white counterparts. For black women, AIDS diagnoses
are 23 times higher than their white counterparts. This disparity is
unconscionable, and we must marshal all of our resources - federal,
state and local governments, community-based organizations, churches and
faith-based groups, and private organizations - to join together, reduce
HIV infection rates among African-Americans, and improve early detection
of HIV among those living with the virus. In the Senate, I will continue
to fight for funding for the Minority AIDS Initiative, the program that
helps local organizations battle this epidemic in their communities. 

We must also do all that we can to ensure that those living with HIV
have access to adequate care and treatment. The President's most recent
budget calls for cuts to Ryan White funding for cities, and jeopardizes
the ability of the urban centers hit hardest by AIDS to continue to
provide life-extending care, treatment and support services. I will work
with my colleagues in the Senate to ensure that these cuts are not
enacted, and give the Ryan White program the funding that it truly
needs. I will also continue to work to pass the Early Treatment for HIV
Act, legislation that would extend Medicaid eligibility to low-income
people living with HIV, in order to help them gain access to
life-extending medication.

Finally, I believe that we must develop a National AIDS Strategy so that
we can have a unified response to this epidemic, and increase our
prevention and care efforts to target the communities where AIDS is
causing the most devastation. I look forward to working with all
stakeholders - medical experts, community members, people living with
HIV, local and state governments, and both prevention and treatment
advocates - to develop a strategy that allows us to halt the alarming
number of HIV infections in the United States, particularly in the
African-American community, and ensure that no one living with HIV goes
without care."

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