Kaisernetwork.org (Washington, DC)
12 December 2007
Election 2008
Huckabee Says He Is Willing To Meet With Family of Ryan White
Politics and Policy
HIV/AIDS Treatment Programs Will Not Keep Pace Unless Number of New Cases Decreases, Experts Say at PEPFAR Reauthorization Hearing
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U.N. Agencies Launch Manual To Teach AIDS Orphans in Africa Farming Skills
Election 2008
Huckabee Says He Is Willing To Meet With Family of Ryan White
[Dec 12, 2007]
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, on Tuesday said that he is "very willing" to meet with the mother of Ryan White, the Los Angeles Times reports (Mehta, Los Angeles Times, 12/12). The Human Rights Campaign and the AIDS Institute on Tuesday sent a letter to Huckabee asking him to meet with White's mother to discuss comments he made in 1992 about people living with HIV/AIDS.
Huckabee -- who made the statements in an Associated Press survey while running for Senate in 1992 -- wrote that in order for the federal government to effectively address the spread of HIV, "we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague." He added in the survey, "It is the first time in the history of civilization in which the carriers of a genuine plague have not been isolated from the general population, and in which this deadly disease for which there is no cure is being treated as a civil rights issue instead of the true health crisis it represents." Huckabee in the survey also said that HIV/AIDS research was receiving too much federal funding.
Huckabee in an interview with Fox News Channel's "Fox News Sunday" said, "I still believe this today" that "we were acting more out of political correctness" in responding to HIV/AIDS. "I don't run from it, I don't recant it," he said of his statements in 1992. He added that his comments were not meant as a call to quarantine HIV-positive people. Huckabee said that he would state his position "a little differently" today.
Jeanne White-Ginder -- the mother of the late Ryan White, an Indiana teenager who died of AIDS-related causes in 1990 at age 18 -- on Monday in an interview with the Associated Press called Huckabee's comments "alarming" and "completely beyond comprehension." She added that she wants to meet with Huckabee to discuss his 1992 comments (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 12/11).
Huckabee on Tuesday said that if he met with White's family, he would "tell them that we've come a long way in research and treatment, and I certainly never would want to say anything that would be hurtful to them or anybody else." He added that he would have "great regret and anxiety if I thought my comments were hurtful or in any way added to the already incredible pain that families have felt, regardless of how they contracted AIDS."
Huckabee did not comment on his current thinking about HIV/AIDS, according to the Times. A statement issued by his campaign last month said that HIV/AIDS care domestically and abroad should be increased (Los Angeles Times, 12/12). In addition, during a recent trip to New Hampshire, Huckabee said that he supports the Bush administration's proposal to double global HIV/AIDS funding. He added that he does not want to neglect other diseases. "I want to make sure that when we look at a disease -- whether it is AIDS, diabetes or cancer -- we look at it from the macro perspective, and we don't just single out one thing that affects, in America, you know, about 5,000 people a year," Huckabee said. According to CDC, there were 42,514 new HIV cases and 13,064 AIDS-related deaths in 2004 (Kranish, Boston Globe, 12/12).
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Politics and Policy
HIV/AIDS Treatment Programs Will Not Keep Pace Unless Number of New Cases Decreases, Experts Say at PEPFAR Reauthorization Hearing
[Dec 12, 2007]
HIV/AIDS treatment programs in Africa will not be able to keep pace unless the number of new cases significantly decreases, experts said Tuesday at a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing to reauthorize the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the Boston Globe reports (Donnelly, Boston Globe, 12/12). PEPFAR's original mandate is scheduled to expire in September 2008. President Bush in May called on Congress to double current funding levels to $30 billion over five years (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 12/3).
Experts at the hearing testified that the "most important battle" in curbing HIV/AIDS is stopping HIV transmission but disagreed on how to stop the spread of the virus, the Globe reports. Some witnesses at the hearing debated the effectiveness of a PEPFAR requirement that one-third of HIV prevention funds focus countries receive through the program be used for abstinence-until-marriage and fidelity programs (Boston Globe, 12/12).
Norman Hearst, a professor at the University of California-San Francisco School of Medicine, said that encouraging married men to be faithful to their wives and delaying the onset of sexual intercourse are the two main ways to stop the spread of HIV in Africa (Walker, CQ HealthBeat, 12/11). Hearst added that Congress should set target abstinence and fidelity rates for countries receiving PEPFAR aid because prevention programs in such countries are designed by "Western consultants," who promote condom use as the primary way to prevent HIV. According to Hearst, programs that focus on promoting condom use have "never worked" in areas where HIV is generalized (Boston Globe, 12/12). "It's easier to change sexual behavior than getting the people to use an imported sexual device all of the time," Hearst said (CQ HealthBeat, 12/11).
Helen Smits, co-chair of a recent Institute of Medicine PEPFAR report, said that spending requirements should be dropped so that PEPFAR focus countries can direct programs on their needs. "If a country discovers it has a big problem with needle-sharing (spreading HIV), they could devote all their money in one year to stamp it out," she said. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), chair of the committee, also said he supports a comprehensive approach that would allow focus countries flexibility in spending money for prevention programs (Boston Globe, 12/12). Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) has introduced a measure (S 1966) that would remove PEPFAR's abstinence and fidelity requirement and instead allocate 50% of prevention funding for comprehensive prevention programs, including abstinence and condom use, CQ HealthBeat reports. The measure also would pledge $30 billion through fiscal year 2013 for PEPFAR (CQ HealthBeat, 12/11).
Mark Dybul, U.S. Global AIDS coordinator who administers PEPFAR, said he favors Lugar's proposal because evidence supports abstinence and monogamy as ways to prevent the spread of HIV. Dybul added that this prevention strategy could change because he is not "sure 50% (of the budget) will be needed in five years."
Other HIV prevention strategies discussed during the hearing include programs to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission and expansion of male circumcision, the Globe reports (Boston Globe, 12/12). The witnesses at the hearing also discussed the importance of PEPFAR programs that increase laboratory capacity and improve access to antiretroviral drugs, diagnostic testing for infants and nutrition for people living with HIV/AIDS (CQ HealthBeat, 12/11).
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Across The Nation
HIV/AIDS Education in Washington, D.C., Schools Lacking, Other City Efforts Improving, Group Finds
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