On Wed., April 2, 150 HIV/AIDS advocates from across the state of Illinois were scheduled to have taken our 'Mission: Possible' to the statehouse in Springfield and demand sound public policy and adequate resources to expand HIV care and prevention services to the most vulnerable among us.
The eighth annual Illinois HIV/AIDS Lobby Days has taken on the 'Mission: Possible' theme in 2008 to recognize the extraordinary effort and determination it will require to advance our goals in a challenging and fractious political climate in the capital. As well, our theme acknowledges that our 'superagent advocates' have the training, savvy and grassroots passion to make change possible.
Advocates will focus their mission on three primary issues—all requiring new funding and legislation—chosen through an extensive community input process that began last year and engaged hundreds of folks.
While there are approximately 40,000-42,000 people living with HIV in Illinois, an estimated 10,000 Illinoisans are unaware that they are HIV positive. The state moved to change this sorry situation last year by passing a law, Illinois Public Law 95-0007, to modernize state HIV testing laws. Unfortunately, the funding to make this modernization possible remains insufficient. Advocates will ask their legislators to support a $2 million HIV testing appropriation to expand voluntary HIV testing in emergency rooms and community clinics and to enable providers to identify undiagnosed individuals and connect them with needed HIV medical care and counseling.
The lack of health insurance continues to enact profound damage across our state. Well over a million Illinoisans remain uninsured—hundreds of thousands of whom are very poor, earning less than $10,000 per year. Because they do not meet certain health program requirements, they fall through cracks in the publicly funded health care system, leaving thousands of HIV/AIDS patients to languish without regular, comprehensive, quality medical care. Senate Bill 1925 would reduce the numbers of uninsured in Illinois, slow the growth in healthcare spending and extend significant benefits to those living with HIV/AIDS.
HIV infection and drug overdoses are among the myriad health concerns affecting people who inject drugs. Services for users should include strategies to help them stay alive, safe and free from HIV and hepatitis infection while supporting those who are ready and able to accept substance abuse treatment services. Senate Bill 2155 would expand prescription of naloxone—a safe, effective and low-cost prescription drug used to reverse overdoses caused by drugs such as heroin, methadone or OxyContin. A Chicago-based naloxone prescription program run by the Chicago Recovery Alliance has already achieved remarkable success, saving over 800 lives since 2001. Wider prescription of naloxone and expanded training on its use among drug users would save hundreds of individual lives per year throughout the state. Research indicates that naloxone availability and training heroin users to administer naloxone actually leads to a reduction in heroin use by keeping them alive and connecting them to appropriate resources, so this is a fantastic bill all around.
If you'd like to accept our mission but won't be joining us in Springfield April 2, you can still use those superagent skills we all have by making a telephone call or hitting send on an e-mail to your state representative, your state senator and to the governor. Tell them why you support Senate Bills 1925 and 2155 and why your community needs to help people voluntarily learn their HIV status and receive the care and treatment they require. Visit www.aidschicago.org to learn more.
The sure path to change is your involvement—whether from your laptop at your favorite cafe or in the Capitol Rotunda. To paraphrase famous social scientist Margaret Mead, never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned and motivated superagent advocates can change the HIV/AIDS landscape in Illinois to broaden access to care and enact sound, compassionate legislation. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has, or will. Your voice will assist these initiatives in moving from what is possible to the probable, and to what simply must be.
Jim Pickett is the director of advocacy for AIDS Foundation of Chicago.
