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U.S. AIDS cases since 1981: 944,306
• Cases among men who have sex with men: 441,380
U.S. AIDS deaths since 1981: 529,113
• Deaths among men who have sex with men: 256,053
Source: Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
Global HIV/AIDS cases since epidemic began: 65 million
Global AIDS deaths: 25 million
Source: UNAIDS
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HOME > NEWS > HEALTH NEWS
By: Ryan Lee COMMENTS
 
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They are as responsible for ideology-based interference with HIV prevention as the White House, Auerbach said.
Part of Bush’s domestic AIDS strategy penalizes states like New York and California that proactively funded anti-AIDS efforts by shifting resources to rural and southern states, said Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force.
Foreman also criticized Bush for what he called “the reprehensible shift” from comprehensive sex education to an abstinence-only approach, but added that gay rights organizations — many of which were able to develop a solid infrastructure only via the AIDS crisis — must also again become champions of safer sex and HIV prevention.
“There needs to be a national dialogue sparked to re-engage the LGBT community around HIV, and in order for there to be some kind of broad-based street activism we would need a spark,” Foreman said. “That kind of activism comes in waves, and we’re overdue for the next wave to arrive.”
‘ABCs’ and abstinence-only
David Reznik was among the multitude of gay men who lost friends and lovers during the first 25 years of the AIDS epidemic.
“Almost all of the people I counted as friends in the ’80s and mid-’90s are dead,” said Reznik, a dentist who is among the authorities on HIV and oral health in the nation.
Hoping to have a greater influence in the U.S. response to fighting HIV and AIDS, Reznik and several dental associations lobbied the White House to appoint an oral health expert to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. In January 2003, Reznik himself was tapped by George W. Bush to serve on PACHA.
Like many AIDS activists, Reznik said he had preconceived notions about PACHA being held hostage by social conservatives who advocated only abstinence-until-marriage as a solution to HIV.
“But I’ve been there three years, and there’s been no abstinence-only discussions,” said Reznik, who is HIV-negative. “In a society that always seems to be so polarized, I’ve found that people from very diverse backgrounds are coming together and doing things to move forward — it’s been a very fulfilling experience.”
Among the “significantly good things” Reznik said the current Bush administration has done to fight AIDS domestically is expand the availability of rapid HIV testing to non-laboratory settings, incorporate HIV tests into routine medical check-ups, attempt to eliminate waiting lists for state-administered AIDS Drug Assistance Programs and call for reauthorization of the Ryan White CARE Act in his last two State of the Union<
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