BARACK OBAMA’S PLAN TO COMBAT GLOBAL HIV/AIDS
BARAThere are 40 million people across the planet infected with HIV/AIDS, including more than 1 million people in
the U.S., with nearly 8,000 people dying every day of AIDS. Barack Obama believes that we must do more to
fight the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, as well as malaria and tuberculosis. In 2006, Obama traveled to Kenya
and, along with his wife Michelle, took an HIV/AIDS test to encourage African men and women to be tested for
the disease. Obama believes in working across party lines to combat this epidemic and joined Senator Sam
Brownback (R-KS) at a large California evangelical church to promote greater investment in the global AIDS
battle. As president, Obama will continue to be a global leader in the fight against AIDS.CK OBAMA’S PLAN TO COMBAT GLOBAL HIV/AIDSHIV/AIDS IN AMERICA
Develop a National HIV/AIDS Strategy: Obama has pledged that, in the first year of his presidency, he will
develop and begin to implement a comprehensive national HIV/AIDS strategy that includes all federal agencies.
The strategy will be designed to reduce HIV infections, increase access to care, and reduce HIV-related health
disparities. His strategy will include measurable goals, timelines, and accountability mechanisms.
Fix the Nation’s Health Care System: 47 million Americans are uninsured in this country. Barack Obama is
committed to signing universal health care legislation by the end of his first term in office that ensures all
Americans have high-quality, affordable health care coverage. Obama’s plan will save a typical American
family up to $2,500 every year on medical expenditures by providing affordable, comprehensive and portable
health coverage for every American; modernizing the U.S. health care system to contain spiraling health care
costs and improve the quality of patient care; and promoting prevention and strengthening public health to
prevent disease and protect against natural and man-made disasters. His health plan will ensure that people
living with HIV have access to lifesaving treatment and care.
Fight Disparities: HIV has hit some communities harder than others. For example, while African-Americans
make up 13 percent of the U.S. population, they make up 49 percent of new HIV/AIDS cases. AIDS is the
leading cause of death in African-American women aged 25-34, and the third leading cause of death in African-
American men in the same age group. In 2005, 64 percent of women living with HIV/AIDS were black.
Obama will tackle the root causes of health disparities by addressing differences in access to health coverage
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and promoting prevention and public health, both of which play a major role in addressing disparities. He will
also challenge the medical system to eliminate inequities in health care through quality measurement and
reporting, implementation of effective interventions such as patient navigation programs and diversification of
the health workforce.
Improve Quality of Life for Those Living with HIV/AIDS: Obama is a strong supporter of the Ryan White
Care Act (RWCA), which provides critical access to life-saving treatment and care for over half a million lowincome
Americans with HIV/AIDS. The RWCA is one of the largest sources of federal funds for primary
health care and support services for patients with HIV/AIDS. The bill was named after Ryan White, an Indiana
teenager whose courageous struggle with HIV/AIDS helped educate the nation. Throughout the reauthorization
process of the RWCA, Obama worked closely with RWCA service providers, the Chicago Department of
Public Health, and the Illinois Department of Public Health to analyze and find ways to improve the program
for Illinois and for the nation. Obama will continue to protect the multifaceted care upon which RWCA
beneficiaries depend.
Assure Adequate and Safe Housing for Those Living With HIV: Obama supports increased funding for
Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS (HOPWA) and other pertinent housing programs. These
programs aim to assure that adequate and safe housing is available for all disabled and low-income people with
HIV/AIDS in the U.S.
Expand Funding for Research: Barack Obama will expand funding for research, especially for prevention
options including a vaccine and microbicides. Microbicides are a class of products currently under
development that women apply topically to prevent transmission of HIV and other infections. Obama led an
effort with Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and others to introduce the Microbicide Development Act, which
will accelerate the development of products that empower women in the battle against AIDS. In the United
States, the percentage of women diagnosed with AIDS has quadrupled over the last 20 years. Today, women
account for more than one quarter of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses.
Promote AIDS Prevention: In addition to assuring access to treatment, Obama believes we need to increase
the focus on preventing new infections. We cannot keep pace with treatment needs if we don’t also focus on
prevention. This means pursuing a strategy that relies on sound science and builds on what works. Obama
supports comprehensive sex education that is age-appropriate. He supports increasing federal appropriations for
science-based HIV prevention programs. Obama supports the JUSTICE Act, which would prevent transmission
of HIV within the incarcerated population. He also supports legislation that would lift the ban on federal
funding for needle exchange as a strategy to reduce HIV transmission among injection drug users and their
partners and children.
Bring Medicaid Coverage to Low-Income, HIV-Positive Americans: Obama is a co-sponsor of the Early
Treatment of HIV Act, which would provide Medicaid coverage to more low-income, HIV-positive Americans.
GLOBAL HIV/AIDS
Reauthorize and Revise PEPFAR: The U.S. has dramatically increased funding for global HIV and AIDS
programs through the President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), but the program has faced
controversy. Obama believes that our first priority should be to reauthorize PEPFAR when it expires in 2008
and rewrite much of the bill to allow best practices – not ideology – to drive funding for HIV/AIDS programs.
In addition, Obama supports adding an additional $1 billion a year in new money over the next five years to
strengthen and expand the program to Southeast Asia, India, and Eastern Europe, where the pandemic is
expanding.
Increase Investments for HIV Treatment: Barack Obama is committed to increasing U.S. investments in the
capacity building needed to ensure that poor countries are able to develop the health care infrastructure
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necessary to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS, promote basic health care, reduce the spread of malaria and TB, and
prevent and, if necessary, contain the spread of avian flu and other pandemics.
RACK OBAM
BARACK OBAMA’S PLAN TO COMBAT GLOBAL HIV/AIDS
A’S PLAN TO COMBAT GLOBAL HIV/AIDS
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