On June 25, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that an “agreement in principle” had been reached in the Senate on reauthorizing the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Associated Press (AP) reports (ap.google.com, 6/25).
The article quotes Reid as saying the Senate should be able to vote on the $50 billion, five-year bill “quickly and easily, and it should be done before President Bush goes to the G-8 Summit,” which begins July 7.
Several Republican senators, including Oklahoma’s Tom Coburn, have opposed various aspects of the bill, including the removal of a previous stipulation that 55 percent of PEPFAR funds go toward treatment programs.
According to the AP, the new agreement specifies that “more than half” of bilateral AIDS funding would go toward treatment. “I'm encouraged the Bush administration and congressional leaders decided to restore much of this key provision that has been so integral to PEPFAR's success,” said Coburn.
However, the article reports, some AIDS activists say the compromise may limit funding for programs outside treatment, such as those for AIDS orphans. “We will be forced to oppose this bill if it compromises the effectiveness of the AIDS program,” said David Bryden, spokesman for the Global AIDS Alliance.
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Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
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Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I recently met a guy who is negative. I did tell him about my status and he decided to kiss me anyway (we didn't go further than that). But a day later, he called and said that he actually had a mouth ulcer that time when we kissed and he was very worried. Asked if he can get the virus from me that way. For that moment, I felt so insulted and yet I felt so bad. It was my first time having a contact with a "negative" guy."
