Coalition Calls For Increased Involvement From Southern U.S. Lawmakers In National HIV/AIDS Efforts

Main Category: HIV / AIDS
Article Date: 11 Dec 2008 - 7:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

National policymakers should keep legislators from the Southern U.S. involved in efforts to address HIV/AIDS during the 111th Congress, the Southern AIDS Coalition said at a recent event during which the group also highlighted the effect of HIV/AIDS on women in the region, CQ HealthBeat reports. "We want to remind our policymakers and legislators ... that the South is hugely impacted by HIV/AIDS, and any national discussion on this topic needs to include the South and the Southern AIDS Coalition," coalition founder Evelyn Foust said, adding, "If we are not at meetings -- that's a problem."

According to Foust, who also serves as the AIDS and STD Director at the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. needs a "national AIDS strategy that has consensus from many people who care about this issue." She added that a national strategy should "clearly commi[t] each state and the entire country to doing all we can." The coalition was formed in 2001 to address disparities in federal HIV/AIDS funding in the Southern U.S., specifically in the 2006 Ryan White Program reauthorization. Foust said that the $6.7 million increase in Ryan White funding to the South in 2006 had a large impact on HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment efforts, adding that the coalition now is focusing on maintaining these grants when the current legislation expires. "A lot of work was done on last reauthorization, and huge progress was made in making sure the dollars followed the epidemic, and we hope to continue to see that flexibility," she said (McCarthy, CQ HealthBeat, 12/9).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

© 2008 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

• Additional
• References
• Citations