<% IssueDate = "12/02/02" IssueCategory = "Health" %>

Health March on White House Demands Global AIDS Fund Increase Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report Hundreds of Protestors In Washington, D.C., Demand Increase in Bush Administration Contribution to Global AIDS Fund Hundreds of AIDS activists yesterday marched in downtown Washington, D.C., demanding that the Bush administration give more money to international and domestic HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention programs, the Washington Post reports. Protestors at the event said that the administration's $500 million pledge to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was not enough, and they called on the administration to spend $2.5 billion on global AIDS initiatives, according to the Post. During the march to the White House, some protestors carried fake body bags with the words "Bush: Stop AIDS Deaths" stenciled on them. Paul Davis, a director of the Health GAP Coalition, said that President Bush "has not kept his promises to respond to the global AIDS disaster," the Post reports. "He's a man without a plan," Davis said. The march -- organized by the Health GAP Coalition, the New York and Philadelphia chapters of ACT UP and others -- drew several hundred people from cities such as New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore and ended with the pre-arranged arrest of 31 people who linked themselves together with chains and lay down on their backs outside the White House fence. U.S. Park Police said that the protestors were charged with conducting a stationary demonstration in a restricted area, which is a misdemeanor (Fernandez, Washington Post, 11/27). Critics Say Bush Administration Removed Some Medical Information From Web Sites To Promote Sexual Abstinence Some critics of the Bush Administration say that HHS officials have removed medical information, such as information on how condom use can protect against HIV and disproving a connection between breast cancer and abortion, from Web sites "to promote a philosophy of sexual abstinence," the New York Times reports. The removal of the information has "set off protests" from members of Congress, and led "a number" of health advocacy groups to say that HHS is "bowing to pressure from social conservatives," according to the Times. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said, "We're concerned that their decisions are being driven by ideology and not science." The full article is available online (Clymer, New York Times, 11/26). Bush Administration Expected to Replace Seven of Eight Remaining PACHA Members Appointed By Clinton HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson: Dumping Clinton HIV/AIDS advisory council appointees The Bush administration this month is expected to replace all but one of the eight remaining Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS members who were appointed by former President Clinton, the Washington Blade reports. Most of the remaining Clinton appointees advocate HIV prevention strategies that include condom use and "safer sex" techniques, as well as abstinence. Some AIDS advocates "expressed concern" that the Bush administration may fill the positions with "conservative ideologues" who favor abstinence-only education programs. Bill Pierce, a spokesperson for HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson, said, "No one should take offense or be surprised about this. It's standard practice for any new administration to bring in its own people for positions like this." According to an anonymous source, Washington, D.C.-based AIDS advocate Brent Minor, who is HIV-positive, will be the only council member appointed by Clinton to retain a position. The Blade reports that some AIDS advocates were "pleased" to learn this week that Republican activist David Greer, a member of the board of governors of the Human Rights Campaign, will be one of the current administration's appointees to the council (Chibbaro, Washington Blade, 11/22). This summary is from the Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/hiv provided by kaisernetwork.org), a free health policy news summary and webcasting service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org by National Journal Group Inc. © 2002 by National Journal Group Inc. and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved

For More ... Related Sites Global Fund to Fight AIDS U.S. Department of Health and Human Services President's Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS

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