AIDSVote.org was officially launched on World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, 2003 with the twin goals of educating presidential candidates about the issues and the public on the positions that those candidates take.
Founding organizations include local groups such as the Gay Men's Health Crisis ( GMHC ) in New York City, and the Stop AIDS Project and San Francisco, and national groups such as the National Association of People With AIDS ( NAPWA ) . Membership is open and growing.
'AIDSVote.org is an effort to ensure that AIDS issues figure prominently in the public debate surrounding the 2004 presidential election,' said David Munar, with the AIDS Foundation of Chicago.
The Web site includes a model presidential platform on HIV/AIDS, which has been sent to all of the presidential candidates. Candidate responses will be posted in full as they are received.
The 10-point platform focuses on domestic and international funding; science-based rather than religious/ideological-based prevention activity; and integrating solutions to associated issues of substance abuse, mental health, and comorbid diseases.
'Our next president must accept the awesome and solemn responsibility to lead the word to end the AIDS pandemic,' said Julie Davids with the Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization for Power ( CHAMP ) . 'Our next president must insist that all people living with HIV receive immediate and high quality treatment.'
Advocates have been frustrated by recent congressional action, or inaction, that does not adequately address severe underfunding of AIDS services through the Ryan White CARE Act. State waiting lists for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program ( ADAP ) are growing and sick people are not able to get access to the drugs that will save their lives. At least three people have died while waiting to get on ADAP.
In California, the new administration of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed cuts that would result in closing enrollment to that state's ADAP program in January. Anne Donnelly, with Project Inform, urged him 'to reconsider this ill-advised course of action and instead affirm a commitment to low-income people who depend on these life-saving healthcare programs.'