THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

PRESIDENT CLINTON DECLARES HIV/AIDS IN RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITY

       COMMUNITIES TO BE A "SEVERE AND ONGOING HEALTH CARE CRISIS" 
           AND UNVEILS NEW INITIATIVE TO ADDRESS THIS PROBLEM

                            October 28, 1998

Today, the President will declare HIV/AIDS in racial and ethnic minority communities to be a "severe and ongoing health care crisis" and will unveil a series of initiatives that invest $156 million to address this urgent problem. Citing the chronic and overwhelmingly disproportionate burden of HIV/AIDS on minorities, the President will outline a new comprehensive initiative that includes unprecedented efforts to improve the nation's effectiveness in preventing and treating HIV/AIDS in the African-American and Hispanic communities. The President will also highlight other important increases to fight HIV/AIDS in the budget as well as new funding for his initiative to address racial health disparities for a range of diseases, including HIV/AIDS.

HIV/AIDS in the minority community is a "severe and ongoing health care crisis." While overall AIDS deaths have declined for two years in a row, AIDS remains the leading killer of African American men age 25-44 and the second leading killer of African American women in the same age group. African Americans comprise more than 40 percent of all new HIV/AIDS cases, and African-American women make up 60 percent of female cases. Hispanics represent over 20 percent of new HIV/AIDS cases and only about 10 percent of the population. This is also a critical concern in Asian American communities, as well as Native American communities, where many are high risk and hard to reach.

Historic initiatives invest $156 million for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment in the minority community. During the recent budget negotiations, the Clinton Administration and the Congressional Black Caucus fought successfully to secure a major commitment of funds to address the urgent problem of HIV/AIDS among minorities through new prevention efforts, improved access to HIV/AIDS drug treatments, and training for health professionals who treat this disease. Over two-thirds of this funding is from new resources appropriated through the Omnibus Appropriations Act. The rest will be dedicated from the Department of Health and Human Services' budget.

• Crisis response teams. HHS will make available Crisis Response Teams to a number of highly affected areas. These teams of public health and HIV prevention and treatment experts, doctors, nurses, and epidemiologists -- from a range of agencies including the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- will help assess existing prevention and treatment services for racial and ethnic minorities and develop innovative, effective strategies that best meet the needs of these communities. This effort will take place within a period of several weeks after a request for a crisis response team is received.
• Enhanced HIV/AIDS prevention efforts in racial and ethnic minority communities. These funds will be used for HIV prevention purposes at the Centers for Disease Control such as grants for minority, community-based organizations to work with local health clinics, make testing and counseling available, conduct community workshops, and develop HIV and substance abuse prevention programs on the campuses of Historically Black Colleges and Universities and in institutions of higher learning that predominantly serve Hispanics. The funding also will help provide comprehensive substance abuse treatment programs for African American and Hispanic women with or at risk for HIV/AIDS and their children.
• Reducing disparities in treatment and health outcomes for minorities with HIV/AIDS. Studies show that African Americans and Hispanics are much less likely to receive treatments that meet federally recommended treatment guidelines. This new funding, which supplements the already large increase in the Ryan White program, will help minorities get access to cutting-edge HIV/AIDS drug treatments as well as the range of primary health services needed to treat this disease. Funds also will be used to educate health care providers who treat largely minority populations on treatment guidelines for HIV/AIDS.

Unprecedented Increases in Effective HIV/AIDS Treatment, Prevention, and Research Programs. Substantial and critical funding increases in a wide range of effective HIV/AIDS programs, include:

• An historic $262 million increase in the Ryan White Care Act, which provides primary HIV health care services, treatments, and training for health care professionals on HIV treatment guidelines. The treatment funding in this investment includes a more than 60 percent increase for the AIDS drug assistance program that provides protease inhibitors and other life-saving HIV/AIDS treatments to those who cannot afford the cost, which can run as high as $20,000 a year.
• A 12 percent increase for HIV/AIDS research at NIH. In FY 1999, research on HIV/AIDS at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will total $1.8 billion, a 12 percent increase. This increase will enhance both basic research to further our understanding of the HIV virus as well as applied research that includes clinical testing of new HIV/AIDS pharmacological therapies.

A Commitment to Eliminate Racial Health Disparities. Minorities suffer from a number of critical diseases, including HIV/AIDS, at higher rates than white Americans. Hispanics are more than four times as likely to get HIV/AIDS than whites, while African Americans are more than eight times as likely. The Congress has taken a first step in investing in the President's proposal to address racial health disparities by funding $65 million of this initiative. Congress partially funded the proposed grants for communities to develop new strategies to address these disparities and for increases in other critical public health programs, such as heart disease and diabetes prevention at CDC, that have shown promise in attacking these disparities.

Calling on Congress to Pass an Unfinished Agenda for People With HIV/AIDS.

• A Patients' Bill of Rights. The President and Vice President have repeatedly urged the Congress to pass a strong, enforceable Patients' Bill of Rights that contains critical protections for people with HIV/AIDS, including access to specialists and continuity of care to prevent abrupt changes in critical treatment when an employer changes health plans.
• A Work Incentives Bill for People with Disabilities. Congress also failed to pass the bipartisan Jeffords-Kennedy bill that would have enabled people with disabilities and other disabling conditions, such as HIV/AIDS, to return or to remain at work by expanding options to buy into Medicaid and Medicare and by offering other pro-work initiatives. This bill was on the list of top Administration priorities in the final budget negotiations.

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