Remembering Ryan White 15 years later

Exactly 15 years ago today, on April 8, 1990, Ryan White died from complications due to HIV/AIDS. Ryan was a teenager from Kokomo, Indiana who was a hemophiliac who contracted HIV through exposure to blood products used to treat his condition. He was able to focus the nation's attention on the stigma that people with HIV/AIDS feel when in 1985 he was banned from attending his school at age 13 because members of the community worried that he would infect other students via the drinking fountain!

The Ryan White CARE Act is now the single most important piece of federal legislation which deals with the funding of HIV/AIDS in the United States. Although a call for its reauthorization was included in President Bush's 2005 State of the Union address the current legislation expires on September 30, 2005 and currently Bush's FY 2006 budget calls for flat funding in an area where the number of people infected (and affected) by HIV/AIDS is not constant, but increasing. There are an estimated 1 million HIV positive individuals in the United States, with up to 250 000 people not knowing their HIV status.

This is another example of the Bush administration saying one thing and doing another, particularly on HIV/AIDS. In the 2005 State of the Union, President Bush mentioned his support for increased funding for the Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative, but his proposed budget does not match his words. People are starting to notice.

In the 2003 State of the Union President Bush shocked the world with his announcement of a FIVE YEAR FIFTEEN BILLION DOLLAR initiative to turn the tide against the Global HIV/AIDS pandemic. The advocacy group AIDS Action has an analysis of Bush's money versus his mouth on recent HIV/AIDS funding (pdf). The results are not pretty. Two years into the Presidential Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) one would think six billion dollars would have been committed to fight Global AIDS, right? Sadly, no! The total is closer to five billion.

On this warm spring day, take a little time to remember a little kid from Indiana who was able to put a face on the HIV/AIDS epidemic and even though he lost his life to the disease, he was able to be focus for saving a lot of other lives.