Dramatic AIDS Death Decline Is Extraordinary Return on Investment

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The 47 percent drop in the AIDS death rate is one of the most extraordinary accomplishments in the fifteen-year fight against AIDS. Just a few years ago, those diagnosed with AIDS received a sentence to near certain death. Today, despair has been transformed into hope.

While our investment in AIDS care and research is paying off, our divestment from HIV prevention is creating a new epidemic for a new generation of Americans. Epidemiological and anecdotal evidence point to a disturbing increase in unsafe activity among at-risk populations, particularly young people. Indeed, half of the 40,000 new HIV infections every year are among people under 25.

Even worse, during the past several years, prevention funding has been flat and no ambitious prevention initiatives have been proposed by the Clinton Administration or Congress. In particular, we must provide young people and women with the unvarnished facts about how HIV is spread as well as the sober truth about the new AIDS treatments. AIDS drugs cost 40 dollars a day -- condoms cost 40 cents.

Today's extraordinary news about the success of new drugs contrasts with the fact that they're being denied to an entire class of Americans. It is a tragedy that current federal policy denies low-income HIV-positive Americans access to Medicaid and AIDS-preventing drugs until they develop AIDS. Medicaid must be modernized to ensure that all HIV-positive individuals get access to drug treatment and medical care before AIDS sets in, not after.

The same vigilance and determination that brought about these dramatic new death rates must be maintained so that we can provide care for every American, prevention for everyone at risk and ultimately, a genuine end to AIDS.