Yes We Will! Community Calls for Obama's Leadership on AIDS in his First 100 Days

By Pat Nixon

Many people consider that actions and policy proposals a president makes in his first 100 days in office set the tone and policy agenda for the remainder of his term in office. Coincidentally, this measurement of a president began when Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president during the Great Depression, a time when the country faced economic troubles not unlike today. Within the first 100 days of his presidency, Roosevelt sent Congress a record number of bills that aggressively attacked the economic crisis and redefined the federal government’s role in America.

Fast forward to present day – 27 years into the HIV/AIDS epidemic – and we need the U.S. government to redefine itself once again. We must redefine how our government is addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic at home, and reform its efforts abroad.

We must provide treatment and care for all people with HIV in the U.S. Thousands of people are going without care and treatment for HIV. It is shameful to allow people to die because of a lack of access to treatment, especially in the richest country in the world. And critical care and support programs, like translation and transportation, are being cut across the board. The U.S. needs one standard for everyone – including people in territories like Puerto Rico – which guarantees access to treatment and care programs for all people with HIV. And these policies must be part of a plan to provide quality affordable health care for all people.

We must ensure housing is available to all people with HIV. Researchers have concluded that stable housing is critical for all people, but especially for people with HIV. People are more adherent to medication, more likely to eat well and sleep enough, and are all-around more healthy when they have a stable home. Sadly, the U.S. has shortchanged AIDS housing programs and denied people with HIV who do not have a clinical AIDS diagnosis from accessing AIDS housing.

We must advance HIV prevention justice. A strategic and comprehensive plan for HIV prevention must end the drastic underfunding of prevention programs, support community programs to expand and innovate effective prevention interventions, and invest in research to close our knowledge gaps. We must lift the ban that prohibits the use of federal funds for syringe exchange programs, which reduce HIV transmission in injection drug users without increasing drug use. Young people have a right to medically accurate, evidence-based information to protect their sexual health, and funds going to ineffective abstinence-only programs should be re-directed to comprehensive sexuality education. Public health programs and government policies must confront anti-gay bias and violence, in order to end homophobic practices that increase vulnerability to HIV among gay and bisexual men of all races, and must address gender bias and violence against women and transpeople.

We must reform the U.S. global AIDS plan. This past year, Congress reauthorized the U.S. global AIDS plan for another five years. They committed to $48 billion to address AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. But the plan does not include a target number of people who will be treated, and prioritizes funding for ineffective abstinence and faithfulness programs over comprehensive sex education. The U.S. global AIDS plan must set a treatment target, support generic medication, and fund evidence-based HIV prevention programs.

And, with the vigor and urgency of Roosevelt, President-elect Obama must do so within the first 100 days of his presidency.

On November 20, hundreds of people will converge in Washington, DC, to demand that President-elect Obama redefine the government's AIDS response within his first 100 days in office by calling for a national AIDS strategy, which will include: providing treatment and care for all people with HIV in the U.S.; ensuring housing for all people with HIV; advancing HIV prevention justice; and reforming the U.S. global AIDS plan. The complete details of these demands are available at www.100daystofightaids.org.

The march and rally will begin at 12:30pm in Lafayette Park in front of the White House. Free buses will be transporting people from New York City and Philadelphia to Washington, DC.

For more information about the action and how to get involved, please visit www.100daystofightaids.org.