On World AIDS
Day, Congress, Bush administration get poor grades on the
epidemic

The Human Rights Campaign released its third annual World AIDS Day report card Friday, marking another year of failed U.S. policies to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The report card rates the response by Congress and the Bush administration to HIV/AIDS in four areas: prevention, care and treatment, research, and global AIDS. In 2006 a new category was added--ending AIDS-related stigma/discrimination--in honor of the 25th anniversary of the first reported case of the disease.

"We are hopeful that with a new congressional leadership the failed policies of the past will not continue to be repeated," said Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese in a statement. "Since we began this report card three years ago, the Bush administration and congressional leadership's response to this global pandemic has been grossly inadequate." The grades for 2006 are dismal: an F for prevention, D for care and treatment, F for research, F for ending AIDS-related stigma/discrimination, and C for global AIDS. These follow the poor marks from previous years: In 2004 the grades were an F for prevention, D for care and treatment, C for research, and C for global AIDS; in 2005 they were an F, F, D, and C, respectively. But Solmonese added that these bad marks do not diminish the positive work done by others in the HIV/AIDS community. "As in years past, this report card does not take away from the extraordinary work that has been done by many outspoken champions fighting to put real policies in place to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS," Solmonese said. "Unfortunately, too often in the past their courageous work has been overshadowed by a government leadership that was more focused on allowing ideology to drive our response to HIV and AIDS." (The Advocate)