AIDS Response Effort, Inc.

Entertainment

Magic Johnson to Lead HIV/AIDS Conference in Washington DC

October 21, 2011 by Tom Thayer in Entertainment, News with 0 Comments

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is honored to announce that business mogul and basketball legend Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson, Jr. and actor and AIDS advocate Blair Underwood have each signed on to individually endorse the ‘Keep the Promise on HIV/AIDS’ March set to take place in Washington, DC, Sunday, July 22, 2012 immediately before the opening ceremonies of the International AIDS Society’s XIX International AIDS Conference, which is being held in the United States for the first time in more than 20 years. The ‘Keep the Promise’ rally and march—which organizers anticipate will draw thousands of participants—will serve as a clarion call for universal access to AIDS care and treatment.  “The ‘Keep the Promise on HIV/AIDS’ March presents an ideal opportunity for AIDS advocates and organizations the world over to join together and have our collective voices heard to press US and world leaders to do the right thing on AIDS funding, care and treatment.

WHEREAS in the United States:

• The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) spends less than 30% of its HIV prevention budget on HIV testing.

• Over 8,600 low-income people have been placed on waiting lists or disenrolled from AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAP).

• The average cost of AIDS medications in the U.S. has increased by 163% over the past 15 years, putting an increased financial burden on ADAP and other programs.

• Washington, DC, the host city of the 2012 International AIDS Conference has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in the country at 3%.

Tom Thayer

source:http://www.aidshealth.org/news/press-releases/magic-johnson-blair.html

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