AIDS continues to infect public

Carl Schmid, Director of Federal Affairs at the AIDS Institute, stated that over 1.1 million people in the U.S. are currently living with the HIV/AIDS virus. He also remarked that 56,000 new people are found to be infected every year. He added that African Americans and homosexual males are affected at a disproportionately high percentage.

Rebecca Haag, Executive Director of the AIDS Action Council, called it “shameful” that Washington D.C. has higher AIDS rates than some Sub-Saharan African countries.

Haag said it is vital for the U.S. government to “develop a national AIDS strategy.” Haag was surprised that a strategy hasn’t already been formed 25 years into the epidemic.

Haag advocated better sex education. She said that there is no evidence that abstinence-only education has any impact on preventing sexually transmitted diseases.

Christine Lubinski, Executive Director of the HIV Medicine Association, claimed that health care reform is very important to the fight against AIDS. She mentioned that if the health care system works for those with HIV/AIDS, “it will work for everybody.”