House Will Agree To Senate’s PEPFAR Version

According to Kaiser Network, House leaders have announced that they will approve the Senate’s version of a bill to reauthorize the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, sending the measure to President Bush to sign into law.

Passed earlier in April, the House version of the bill would also allocate $50 billion for PEPFAR. There are some differences between the House and Senate versions, including:

• The House version would allow groups to use PEPFAR funding for HIV testing and education in family planning clinics–  but not for contraception or abortion services.
• The House version includes some spending mandates that are not in the Senate bill, including a requirement that 20% of PEPFAR funding be allocated to prevention.
• The Senate version includes a provision that more than half of the program’s aid go toward HIV/AIDS treatment and care.
• The Senate version would create links between HIV/AIDS and nutrition programs and set a target of recruiting 140,000 health care workers.

Both versions do have a number of common features, including:

• Language that overturns an existing law that requires one-third of prevention funds be spent on abstinence and fidelity programs, instead requiring a report to Congress if countries do not spend half of prevention money on such programs.
• A directive to put 10 percent of funding towards programs for orphans and vulnerable children, as well as allocate $2 billion for the Global Fund in fiscal year 2009.
• An existing requirement that organizations receiving PEPFAR aid have a policy that opposes commercial sex work.
• In addition, both measures would allocate $5 billion for malaria programs and $4 billion for tuberculosis initiatives.

Senate Passes PEPFAR

The U.S. Senate today passed 80-16 the Lantos/Hyde U.S. Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act (S 2731), which reauthorizes the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

PEPFAR has helped bring lifesaving drugs to 1.7 million people globally. The reauthorized bill commits $48 billion toward fighting HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in the world’s hardest-hit countries. The reauthorized bill also includes a provision to lift the long-standing statutory ban on HIV-positive people from traveling or immigrating to the U.S.

The bill now returns to the House for concurrence. The House version, passed in April, contains some differences, the main one being that the House version would allow groups to use PEPFAR funding for HIV testing and education in family planning clinics but not for contraception or abortion services.

For more information:

• APLA Press Release On PEPFAR Reauthorization
• Senator Joseph Biden’s Press Release 
• Washington Post: Senate Agrees To $50 Billion AIDS Plan

Fight Medi-Cal Pharmacy Cuts NOW!

Low income people with HIV/AIDS who depend on prescription drugs may have difficulty finding a pharmacy to fill their prescriptions as a result of Medi-Cal reimbursement rate cuts which took effect on July 1st of this year.

During the round of budget balancing reductions that took place earlier this year, California legislators implemented a 10 percent cut to pharmacies for medicines covered by Medi-Cal. These cuts may force pharmacies to stop serving Medi-Cal patients, because they would lose money on so many drugs. Pharmacies that serve a large number of Medi-Cal patients may find it impossible to stay in business, which could impact the entire community, including patients who are not on Medi-Cal.

According to Patients for Access To Medicine, the cuts will seriously destabilize the health of Californians, as well as increase the cost of healthcare for taxpayers. Pharmacists cannot stay in business if they are forced to sell medicines at a loss. If Medi-Cal patients lose access to their medicines, they could become sicker and end up in the emergency room or back at the doctor’s office at a higher cost to taxpayers.

You can do your part to stop these cuts and restore access to vital medications. Contact California’s legislative leaders today– tell them that people with HIV/AIDS have special medication needs. As a result of the Medi-Cal cuts, they many not be able to get their prescriptions filled. Tell them to stop the cuts now!

Call the following state leaders today:

The Hon. Karen Bass
Assembly Speaker
tel: (916) 319-2047
fax: (916) 319-2147

The Hon. Don Perata
Senate President
tel: (916) 651-4009
fax: (916) 327-1997

The Hon. Darrel Steinberg
Senate President Pro Tempore
Phone: (916) 651-4006
Fax: (916) 323-2263

L.A. Times: HIV clinic in South Los Angeles sees more teenagers

In the last 15 months, the Oasis Clinic in South Los Angeles has gone from treating one teenage patient to treating 47, according to a story in today’s Los Angeles Times.

This update comes on the heels of the CDC report last week on a marked increase in HIV diagnoses among men having sex with men from 2001 to 2006.  The largest jump was among young gay black men – up 15%, compared with 8% for young gay Latinos and 9% for young gay whites.

Dr. Wilbert C. Jordan, medical director of the OASIS Clinic, expects the clinic to have 100 teenage patients before the end of the year. 

“These kids are sort of mentally adapted to not being here when they’re 30,” Jordan said. “If you think you’re going to be dead by 30 and the disease takes 10 years, it doesn’t scare you so much.”

APLA Statement on CDC’s New HIV Figures

AIDS Project Los Angeles issued a statement on a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which showed an increase in the number of new HIV diagnoses among men who have sex with men (MSM).

“Men who have sex with men – especially men of color – remain at greatest risk for HIV/AIDS in the United States,” said Craig E. Thompson, executive director of AIDS Project Los Angeles. “Yet just four of 49 scientifically-supported interventions target this population. The data and the dollars don’t match, at the expense of a new generation of young gay men.”

Click on the link to read the full press release.