Thank you, CHAMP, for leading us in mobilzing for justice! I was honored to be asked to speak at the rally and share these remarks:

It is often said in Washington that you cannot solve a problem by just throwing money at it. Well, when it comes to HIV infections in America, we’ve actually NEVER TRIED!

In just two and half days—essentially the span of this conference—the U.S. government will have spent more money in Iraq than the total annual budget for domestic HIV prevention.

Since Sunday afternoon, the Treasury has spent about $576 million in Iraq. By lunchtime tomorrow, the cost to taxpayers will have exceeded $730 million and have surpassed the amount of money Congress and the president gave CDC for HIV prevention services in the U.S. in 2007.

Shamefully, the budget for HIV prevention in our country has not increased in ten years. Our prevention efforts are literally being starved to death.

A decade of flat funding means :

• No response to emerging trends and populations at elevated risk
• No ability to act on new findings and innovations
• No adjustment for a decade’s worth of inflation: Johns Hopkins University estimates that the buying power of CDC’s domestic HIV prevention budget declined 19% between fiscal 2002 and 2007 (Wall Street Journal, Dec. 1, 2007)

Sadly, as the prevention budget has remained stalled for a decade, the epidemic has not. Over ten years:

• 500,000 individuals became HIV infected in the U.S.
• 150,000 HIV/AIDS deaths occurred
• The number of people living with HIV in the U.S. grew by 25% (250,000 individuals)

Is it any surprise, then, that annual HIV infections are going up? NO! Under these conditions, can we improve the lives of people in our communities? NO! Do we find this acceptable? NO!

Progress depends on responding to HIV as a community and with comprehensive solutions.

I care about prevention justice because HIV has forever changed my life and the lives of so many people I know and love. And like so many others, my life and my community has also been faced with depression, lack of healthcare, lack of linguistically competent services, drugs, incarceration, poverty, unfulfilled potential, discrimination, stigma, isolation, hopelessness.

Please get educated at AIDSVote.org, endorse the national AIDS strategy at NationalAIDSStrategy.org, and continue to fight for prevention justice—social justice—when you make your decisions at the ballot box.

People: SHOW YOUR RAGE!

David Ernesto Munar
AIDS Foundation of Chicago
and on assignment for Windy City Times
dmunar@aidschicago.org