Lifesaving AIDS
treatment access eliminated for over 15,000; thousands of people living with
HIV/AIDS lose housing support and risk homelessness; more Americans at risk for
hepatitis infection.
The National
Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD), amfAR, The
Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), and the National Minority AIDS Council
(NMAC) Urge Congress and the President to Prevent Devastating Cuts
Sequestration
issue briefs are available for download below:
Contact:
Meico Whitlock (NASTAD), www.NASTAD.org, +1-202-434-8094
Cub Barrett (amfAR), cub.barrett@amfar.org, +1-212-806-1602
Kyle Murphy (NMAC), www.NMAC.org, +1-202-483-6622, x333
Washington, D.C.,
October 16, 2012—Today, NASTAD, amfAR, and NMAC released two issue briefs
outlining $659 million in automatic spending cuts to HIV/AIDS and viral
hepatitis programs that will occur as the result of sequestration. These are
federal programs that provide life-saving care and treatment to people living
with HIV/AIDS and viral hepatitis and work to prevent new infections and reduce
health care costs over time. Unless Congress and the President come to an
agreement on a different way to reduce the federal deficit, these cuts will
automatically occur on January 2, 2013.
According to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are an estimated 50,000 new HIV
infections each year, approximately 1.2 million Americans living with HIV/AIDS,
and about 5.3 million people living with viral hepatitis in the United States.
“Sequestration will
undermine everything we’ve done to accomplish the National
HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) goals of reducing HIV incidence and death,”
said Chris Collins, Vice President and Director of Public Policy at amfAR. “Budget
cuts through sequestration would bring crucial life-saving research at the
National Institutes of Health to a halt, squandering enormous scientific
opportunities including AIDS vaccine and cure research.”
“These cuts will have a
devastating impact and will be yet another blow for low- income individuals and
people of color living with HIV/AIDS and viral hepatitis at a time when we can
least afford it. Investing in our health care infrastructure will reduce
long-term health care costs for chronic conditions like HIV and viral
hepatitis, is the right thing to do, and is critical if we are to end these
twin epidemics” concluded Kali Lindsey, Director of Legislative and Public
Affairs at NMAC.
“Our nation’s health
departments already have to make tough decisions about cutting jobs and
critical health services. Now more than ever, we need our nation to commit to
providing state health departments with the resources necessary to end the
HIV/AIDS and viral hepatitis epidemics once and for all. Supporting the
critical infrastructure and the work of health departments makes both public
health and economic sense,” commented Terrance Moore, Director of Policy and
Health Equity at NASTAD.
The estimated human
impact of sequestration on domestic HIV/AIDS and viral hepatitis programs
means:
15,708 people will lose access to
crucial life-saving drugs
5,000
households will
lose housing support
- 460 AIDS research
grants will
be eliminated
- 412 people living
with HIV will
not be diagnosed
- $65.2 million in
HIV prevention services will be cut
- $1.6 million in
viral hepatitis prevention services will be cut.
These cuts amount to an
8.2 percent reduction in funding for most non-defense discretionary programs
based on a calculation using fiscal year 2013 spending levels.
-###-
The National Alliance
of State & Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD), founded in 1992, is a
nonprofit national association of state and territorial health department
HIV/AIDS program directors who have programmatic responsibility for
administering HIV/AIDS and viral hepatitis health care, prevention, education,
and supportive services programs funded by state and federal governments. For
more information, visit www.NASTAD.org.
amfAR, The
Foundation for AIDS Research (amFAR), is one of the world’s leading nonprofit
organizations dedicated to the support of AIDS research, HIV prevention,
treatment, education, and the advocacy of sound AIDS-related public policy.
Since 1985, amfAR has invested more than $340 million in its programs and has
awarded grants to more than 2,000 research teams worldwide. For more
information, please visit www.amfAR.org.
The National Minority
AIDS Council (NMAC) represents
a coalition of faith based and community based organizations as well as AIDS
service organizations advocating and delivering HIV/AIDS services in
communities of color nationwide. Since 1987, NMAC has developed leadership in
communities of color through a variety of advocacy campaigns, public policy
education programs, national conferences, research programs, capacity building,
technical assistance and trainings, and digital and electronic resource
materials. For more information visit www.nmac.org.