is a candidate education and voter education project working to make sure that candidates for public office know what it takes to end AIDS and that voters who care about ending AIDS know where the candidates stand on our issues.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

China’s Rising Economy Is Also Bringing Rising HIV/AIDS Cases

Shenzhen—Shenzhen, a boomtown in south China’s Guangdong Province, registered 496 HIV/AIDS cases in the first three quarters of the year. The statistics represent a rise of 40 percent on the same period last year, according to the Shenzhen City Center for Disease Control (CDC). Most of the victims were aged between 30 and 40. The killer virus was mainly spread via shared syringes among drug addicts, homosexuals and even heterosexual partners. The city CDC said that eight couples who recently applied for marriage licenses had been diagnosed with HIV. China’s Ministry of Health said Wednesday that the number of HIV infections nationwide has risen 27.5 percent since the beginning of the year. By the end of October, a total of 183,733 people were officially reported to have contracted HIV, 39,644 more than at the end of 2005. As China continues to expand it’s economy and infrastructure, more Chinese people in historically isolated and rural areas will begin to come in contact with more people. Highways, paved roads, China’s astronomical production and consuming of cars, and a travel industry built around gas, will continue to bring more of China’s 1.3 billion… (more)

Friday, November 17, 2006

SOUTH CAROLINA CAMPAIGN TO END AIDS MEDIA RELEASE

SOUTH CAROLINA CAMPAIGN TO END AIDS MEDIA RELEASE For immediate release: November 18, 2006 Contact: Karen Bates 803-750-5259 scaplwa@aol.com THIS MONDAY: PEOPLE LIVING WITH AIDS WILL MARCH AND PRAY TO STOP THE DYING AND END WAITING LISTS FOR HIV/AIDS DRUGS In response to the recent deaths of three South Carolinians with AIDS who were on the state-mandated waiting list for medications, hundreds of people living with AIDS and their supporters will rally and pray at government buildings in Columbia Monday to demand emergency funding to save lives and end the wait list. Last June, state officials set up a waiting list for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) that provides HIV/AIDS-related medications to low-income, uninsured and underinsured people living with HIV/AIDS, citing funding shortfalls. The waiting list for care has grown quickly, and many people with AIDS here are either going without treatment or getting inadequate care. “I cannot stand silently by when my government is throwing people away like trash by not providing life-saving medications,” said Karen Bates of Columbia, Co-Chair of SC-C2EA and a woman living with HIV/AIDS. Bates and other people living with AIDS, service providers, union leaders and activists will hold prayer vigils at the Department… (more)

Monday, November 13, 2006

3 DEAD IN SC ADAP CRISIS: TAKE ACTION NOV 20

THREE DEAD ON SOUTH CAROLINA WAITING LIST FOR AIDS DRUGS Stop the needless deaths—demand emergency funding November 20 More than 300 people are on the waiting list for AIDS drugs set up by South Carolina officials last June—now three of these are dead, and another is near death. People living with HIV/AIDS in South Carolina, around the U.S. and in South Africa are planning to memorialize these needless deaths on November 20 by demanding emergency action, and we need your help. BACKGROUND: Last June, the State of South Carolina set up a waiting list for our AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) that provides HIV/AIDS-related medications to low-income, uninsured and underinsured people living with HIV/AIDS. The waiting list for care has grown quickly, and many PLWHAs in SC are either going without treatment or getting inadequate care. And there are ADAP waiting lists in six other states. GOVERNMENT ACTION NEEDED Activists in South Carolina are organizing to demand three things before the end of the year: * a request for $3 million in emergency state funding from the state Department of Health and Environmental Control * approval of this request by the state Budget and Control Board * “full funding” of… (more)

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Kaytee Riek Blogs the Bird-Dogging—HealthGAP Election Wrapup

from Kaytee Riek, HealthGAP/SGAC/ACTUP Bird-dogger extraordinare… Thank goodness the TV commercials are now over, and the election results are in. Looks like we’ve got a whole new crop of leaders in the House and Senate that are itching for education about AIDS issues. Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard over the past 2 months out there birddogging the candidates! We were incredibly successful, hitting over 20 public events in PA and OH alone. We also did some amazing work in RI, CT, and some AMSAns even went to visit Clinton in Iowa and MD, and house candidates in IL. And VT got out there and talked to our only Socialist Senator, Bernie Sanders, as well as VT’s new house member. To sum up: - Sherrod Brown (new Ohio Senator) is on board on trade issues, health workers, and the Ryan White CARE Act - Bob Casey (new PA Senator) is on board w/ health workers and was actually regurgitating our talking points on the CARE Act for $2.6 billion! - Barack Obama has been asked, and had agreed, repeatedly to be our champion on global AIDS, and to support the full $8bn for health workers - he even gave… (more)

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Med Students Bird-Dog Sherrod Brown & Barack Obama

Hey everyone, Sorry for not getting back sooner. A large posse of AMSA students went to the rally in Cleveland on Saturday night. We tried to get there early the doors were supposed to open at 7:00 and we got there at 7:10. By the time we got there we were already being sent to the overflow room. All of the students we were with eventually snuck into the balcony and the main room of the event. Sherrod Brown and Obama were the last to speak and when both came out we held up our hand made posters (thanks to Connie and Alexander for supplies) and they both saw us. Connie also yelled AIDS when Obama was listing world problems which he added into his list. We also got up and started chanting “8 billion dollars for Doctors and Nurses, Fight AIDS in Africa, Open our purses” during Brown’s speech at which point he acknowledged us and kind of gave us a thumbs up and he made some reference to Dewine’s support for the bill. (We could not come to a census on exaclty what he said). After the rally Andrew was able to get a hand shake with Obama,… (more)

Monday, November 06, 2006

A Ridiculous Amount of Bird-Dogging in PA

9:30am Targets: Sestak (house)/Casey/Gore in Brookhaven, Southern Philly suburb: Posse: Kaytee, Paul, Allison Event: Rally w/ lots of speakers (including surprise guest Max Cleland), all local PA House candidates, the Governor, etc. There were maybe 300 people there, in the gym of a community center. What happened: - Got there 30 mins early, sat down in reserved seats and no one asked us to leave - Gore looked confused when Paul thanked him for inadvertently launching worldwide movement for access to AIDS meds when Gore fought the South African Medicines Act - Kaytee shouted at Casey “and we need health workers in Africa too” during list of things that America needs to do differently and Casey said “yea, we’ll get to that” then never did. All held up signs at Casey during speech, Casey purposefully would not look at us. - All spoke to Sestak, who did not know much about fast track, Sestak said “new trade agreements will have to have protections for workers and the environment” but did not seem to latch onto the access to meds issue. Encouraged him to exploit Weldon’s weakness on CAFTA/trade, he said he would. Paul & Kaytee talked about ab-only earmark in… (more)

VT Student Global AIDS Campaign Bird-Dogs Bernie

Hello all, This is an overdue update on the activities of the Vermont SGAC chapter. On sat 28th, we attended a Bernie Sanders rally where we were able to speak to Bernie about the initiative. He kindly took time to listen to our explanations and said that he would support such funding! Thurs 2nd, we attended an event in burlington. In attendance was bernie, leahy and peter welsh. We approached Mr. welsh and got him to support the initiative. Our next step after the election is following up with their “support” through editorials and contacting them and their offices. Good luck to all. Siham.

Friday, November 03, 2006

A Start

The Scout Association of the University of Yaounde has installed an automatic condom distributor in the campus. Now was that so hard? Not that 1 automatic condom distributor is going to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, but 5000 will. Now if only the Bush Administration and his right-wing posse would fully support such a simple and proven way to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, we would be saving many more lives.

Letter sent today to the editor of “The State” newspaper in Columbia, SC:

Every day, over 1 billion people around the world live on less than $1 a day. But on Election Day, I can begin to do something about it. I can vote! My vote can set in motion something that will change that. As a voter, as a member of the South Carolina Campaign to End AIDS and as one of the 2.4 million members of ONE: The Campaign to Make Poverty History, I have been working to make the fight against global AIDS and extreme poverty a part of the election conversation. For the first time in history we have the resources and know-how to end extreme poverty and AIDS. All we need now is the political will to make it happen and that means voting and holding our leaders accountable. The South Carolina Campaign to End AIDS, a local grassroots organization comprised completely of volunteers who want to effect positive change, sent a very simple Congressional Questionnaire to all of the candidates for US House from the state of South Carolina. Not a one of them, Republican or Democrat, bothered to answer and return the questionnaire. Do they have no position on global AIDS and poverty? Do they have… (more)

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Don’t Lose Your Head

New German HIV/AIDS ad campaign.

Monday, October 30, 2006

Karens SC-c2ea Blog

Returning from the 2006 South Carolina HIV/STD Conference (where we obtained additional signatures on AIDSVote petitions and plugged C2EA at every opportunity), South Carolina Campaign to End AIDS (SC-c2ea) members are busy readying for a final push before election day. SC-c2ea has gathered together stacks of AIDSVote petitions, particularly focusing on the state races for Governor and US House. Petitions are to be delivered continuously from now until election day to the candidates’ campaign headquarters. Additionally, all South Carolina candidates for US House were sent Congressional Questionnaires several weeks ago and follow-up is now underway, with answers to the completed questionnaires to be disseminated as widely as possible to help interested South Carolina voters learn where their candidates stand on AIDS issues. SC-c2ea is also involved with other advocacy initiatives. Some SC-c2ea members are busy sending letters to their elected officials in Washington, urging passage of a fully-funded Ryan White CARE Act. SC-c2ea members hold seats on the newly-formed South Carolina HIV/AIDS Care Crisis Task Force, designed to be a coalition of partners all working to urge the South Carolina General Assembly to appropriate more money for HIV/AIDS treatment and care. SC-c2ea members are committed to pursuing all… (more)

South Africa Ends AIDS Denial

News: South African government ends Aids denial By: Andrew Meldrum Source: The Guardian (UK)
DATE: Saturday 28th October 2006 Online at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/aids/story/0,,1933873,00.html *********************************** THE SOUTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT YESTERDAY ANNOUNCED A DRAMATIC REVERSAL of its approach to the country’s Aids crisis, promising increased availability of drugs and endorsing the efforts of civic groups battling the disease. “We must take our fight against Aids to a much higher level,” the deputy president, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, told a conference of Aids activists, who until recently had been ignored and even denounced by the government. “We must tighten up so that ARV [antiretroviral] drugs are more accessible, especially to the poor. Education and prevention of HIV infection must be scaled up. Our people want us to unite on this issue in the best interests of the health and wellbeing of our nation. Working together we can defeat this disease,” she said to cheers from a crowd of health professionals, church leaders and labour officials. Experts said the government’s policy change could save thousands of lives. An estimated 5.4 million of South Africa’s 47 million people are infected with HIV, one of the highest ratios in the world. “This is a sea change,” said… (more)

Bird-dogging Casey at Pitt—how it happened

Ok, so! The Casey rally in at Pitt was a clear success. Here’s how it went: Mary, Kate, and T from SGAP Pitt sat together, whereas I sat apart, as did Anna & the PittMed students. This worked well, as will be demonstrated later. The article gave a nice breakdown of how the event went. When Casey was running quite late, Chris and Andre Heinz did their best to fill the gaps, at which point I decided to stand up to ask a question. I stated that I, in light of the majority of Rick Santorum’s policies, am faced with a grand conflict when I consider his support and leadership in the Senate for funding of HIV/AIDS initiatives, whereas Casey has thus far failed to make a commitment. Chris Heinz rattled on for a little bit about how Santorum mostly funds “Big Pharm” after which Kate, T, and Mary chanted, which, unfortunately was a little difficult to hear. When Casey finally arrived, Mary and Kate started chanting “Open your purses, we need nurses” about 5 minutes in, which wasn’t received well; they were asked to leave by a rude security guard who threatened them! To correct what I think might… (more)

AP Story: Casey says he’ll do better than Santorum on global AIDS—impact of bird-dogging

Check the end of this article for an account of SGAC bird-dogging and a statement by Casey that he’ll do better than Santorum on global AIDS. Now on to domestic, y’all… Casey says Santorum attacks a sign of GOP desperation JENNIFER C. YATES Associated Press PITTSBURGH - Democrat Bob Casey said Friday that U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum’s contention that a win for Democrats would be disastrous shows that Republicans are desperate. With just 11 days to go in one of the nation’s most competitive Senate races, Casey spoke to about 150 students at the University of Pittsburgh. With his jacket off and white shirt sleeves rolled up, Casey warned the group that Republicans would use fear to try to win the vote. Newspapers quoted Santorum earlier this week as saying a Democratic victory on Nov. 7 would be “a disaster for the future of the world.” “It shows you that, in the end of the campaign, that they’ll do whatever it takes to win,” Casey said. Casey, the state treasurer, and Santorum, the third-ranking Republican in the Senate, appeared at separate events on Friday in western Pennsylvania. Earlier in the day, Santorum spoke to supporters at Pittsburgh’s Sen. John Heinz… (more)

South Carolina AIDSVote Update

Returning from the 2006 South Carolina HIV/STD Conference (where we obtained additional signatures on AIDSVote petitions and plugged C2EA at every opportunity), South Carolina Campaign to End AIDS (SC-c2ea) members are busy readying for a final push before election day.  SC-c2ea has gathered together stacks of AIDSVote petitions, particularly focusing on the state races for Governor and US House.  Petitions are to be delivered continuously from now until election day to the candidates’ campaign headquarters.  Additionally, all South Carolina candidates for US House were sent Congressional Questionnaires several weeks ago and follow-up is now underway, with answers to the completed questionnaires to be disseminated as widely as possible to help interested South Carolina voters learn where their candidates stand on AIDS issues.   SC-c2ea is also involved with other advocacy initiatives.  Some SC-c2ea members are busy sending letters to their elected officials in Washington, urging passage of a fully-funded Ryan White CARE Act.  SC-c2ea members hold seats on the newly-formed South Carolina HIV/AIDS Care Crisis Task Force, designed to be a coalition of partners all working to urge the South Carolina General Assembly to appropriate more money for HIV/AIDS treatment and care.  SC-c2ea members are committed to pursuing all avenues to help bring about an end to the state’s waiting list… (more)