Special
Bulletin! Governor
Schwarzenegger Plans to Slash HIV Treatment and Prevention Funding in CA
HIV and Hepatitis.com received the following email
from the CEO of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation urging all Californians to contact
the Governor and members of the State Senate and Assembly who are making these
painful decisions now.
To: Ronald Baker, Publisher, HIV and
Hepatitis.com
Dear Ronald,  | Governor
Schwarzenegger |
On
Wednesday, I alerted you to Governor Schwarzenegger’s proposal to eliminate
the State’s HIV prevention and education funding.
This morning,
the news is far bleaker. The Governor has released a plan to end HIV/AIDS treatment
for nearly 35,000 Californians, our neighbors who rely on the AIDS Drug Assistance
Program for life-saving medication, eradicating years of progress against HIV
and putting lives at risk.
The
plan goes on to remove State support for HIV testing, AIDS education in schools,
rural HIV prevention programs, and funds that provide housing to people living
with AIDS. The budget will slash health insurance for low-income families, devastate
family planning, and terminate in-home supportive services for the elderly and
disabled.
In this climate, we cannot be silent.
The budget is
woefully short-sighted, robbing the State of hundreds of millions of dollars in
federal support. If California fails to deliver on its commitments, Washington,
D.C. will deny our matching funds, jeopardizing virtually every federal benefit
that supports the health of people living with HIV and irrevocably altering our
capacity to prevent new infections.
This budget will have an unimaginable
effect on the health of hundreds and thousands of Californians.
There
is no time to waste. I urge you to contact the Governor and your State Senator
and Assembly member who are making these painful decisions now. Everyone at the
San Francisco AIDS Foundation—our clients, volunteers and staff—is grateful
that you are speaking out in this crisis.
With profound thanks,
Mark
Cloutier
CEO
San Francisco AIDS Foundation
|
