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| January 23, 2007 Presidential State of the Union Address AIDS Action Council Says State of the Union Address Fails to Address Half Million Marginalized HIV Positive People in the U.S. WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2007 -- Despite signing the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Modernization Act of 2006 into law in December 2006, President George W. Bush failed to address the domestic HIV epidemic in his State of the Union address tonight. In particular, the President failed to call upon lawmakers to prioritize the needs of people living with HIV by making life-saving drugs and medical treatment available to all who are HIV infected, nor did he highlight the importance of HIV prevention. More than 250,000 people in the U.S. know they are infected with HIV but do not have access to HIV care, and an additional 250,000 – 300,000 people in the U.S. are infected with HIV but are unaware of their positive status. Even as the epidemic grows by 40,000 new infections every year in the U.S., the priority for treatment and care and for the prevention of HIV have fallen far short of the need in recent years. “As many as 1.2 million people are living with HIV/AIDS in the United States; we can best help them by making sure they receive quality care and treatment,” Haag added. “We must also ensure that the number of new infections decreases by adding resources for scientifically based HIV prevention programs.” |