AIDS Action Calls on Huckabee to Follow HIV/AIDS Science

Calls on Every Candidate from Every Party to Commit to Creating Evidence Based National HIV/AIDS Strategy

WASHINGTON, Dec. 11, 2007 – AIDS Action released a statement today calling on Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee to rewrite his HIV/AIDS platform to ensure that the policies he would undertake as President conform to science-based principles and end stigma against people living with HIV.  “Governor Huckabee’s 1992 statement calling for the quarantine of people living with HIV was wrong on the facts and was not consistent with the science and understanding of HIV at that time,” said Ronald Johnson, AIDS Action’s Deputy Executive Director.  “Enactment of such a policy would have resulted in driving the disease even further underground and diminished our ability to prevent new infections.”  

AIDS Action, along with many national organizations, has been advocating for the creation of a science driven national AIDS strategy for the United States.  “This is a very important moment in the Presidential campaign because it underscores the need for a science based and evidence driven national policy that is developed with the participation and input of the many affected communities,” said Johnson.  “We call on Governor Huckabee and every Presidential candidate to meet with the AIDS community and develop a results-oriented national AIDS strategy that can drive increased efficiency and better outcomes on HIV prevention and treatment, and reduce racial disparities in the epidemic.” 

More information is available at www.nationalaidsstrategy.org. 

Currently five Presidential candidates have publicly committed to the creation of a science-based National AIDS Strategy as outlined on the website.  They are: Senator John Edwards, Senator Barack Obama, Senator Hillary Clinton, Governor Bill Richardson and Representative Dennis Kucinich.

AIDS Action Council is a Washington non-profit organization that advocates on behalf of people living with HIV and AIDS and that helped to create and ensure passage of the original Ryan White CARE Act in 1990 and the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Modernization Act of 2006 last December.