AIDS Action Calls For Stronger U.S. Commitment to Preventing Spread of HIV

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WASHINGTON -- AIDS Action today called on Congress and the Clinton Administration to further commit themselves to slowing the spread of HIV in the United States among those most at risk for the disease. A study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found an alarmingly high prevalence of HIV infection among gay and bisexual men ages 15-22. Nearly 10% of the 22-year-olds who took part in the survey tested positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Among young gay men of color who were tested, more than 16% were positive.

"The CDC data estimates that 100,000 people under the age of 25 will become infected with HIV in the next five years if current trends continue. I don't know what more evidence Congress needs to be convinced that this country should dramatically ramp up its prevention efforts," said Claudia French, acting executive director for AIDS Action. "There's still time in this appropriations process to make a real commitment to prevention. Congress should disregard the President's budget request and get serious about preventing the spread of HIV."

AIDS Action and hundreds of organizations comprising the National Organizations Responding to AIDS (NORA) coalition asked the Administration and Congress to increase HIV prevention funding by more than $100 million in FY2001. The Clinton administration declined, supporting only a modest $40 million increase.

"Current prevention efforts are not enough to protect a new generation of sexually active young people," said French. "We support a stronger prevention effort at the Centers for Disease Control targeted to reach young gay men and other at-risk groups. It only makes sense that we take every opportunity, and make every effort to tell young people what puts them at risk for HIV, and what it means to become HIV positive."

In addition to the report in JAMA, other recent studies and data indicate that new HIV infections among certain populations are on the rise. An AIDS Action study of AIDS service providers found most reporting a spike in new infections among women of color and other groups. At the 13th International AIDS Conference underway this week in Durban, South Africa, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials reported that today's gay teens may not be practicing safer sex as regularly as men who came of age in the earlier days of the AIDS epidemic.

"The success of the latest AIDS drugs may be having the unintended effect of making safer sex passé among younger gay men," said French. "We've been so busy celebrating the successes in extending the lives of those with AIDS that we forgot to tell those just coming of age how to avoid getting it in the first place. It's time we redoubled our efforts to educate young people about protecting themselves, and about how difficult life can be when they don't."

Please direct all calls to:

Denis J. Dison
Director of Communications
AIDS Action
1906 Sunderland Place, NW
Washington, DC 20036
202-530-8030 ext. 3065