Students Rally Against AIDS in D.C.

The students also will communicate the need to reauthorize the Ryan White CARE Act. It was signed by Congress in 1990 and will expire on Sept. 30, 2005.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 25, 2005) -- University of Kentucky undergraduate and graduate students and students from Transylvania University will be taking a stand during the Student March Against AIDS rally being held in Washington, D.C., this weekend.

Approximately50 UK individuals, many members of UK’s International Federation of Medical Students Association and the Student Global AIDS Campaign (SGAC), will be in attendance at the rally, which includes a march from the White House to the Capitol.

“The goal of the march is to challenge the United States to renew its commitment to fight AIDS domestically as well as internationally,” said Tigist Mammo, second year UK College of Medicine student. “SGAC has planned this march for the last year and 10,000 people from all over the country are expected to participate. “

The march is Saturday, Feb. 26; advocacy training is Sunday, Feb. 27; and a lobby day at Capitol Hill will take place Monday, Feb. 28.

The students also will communicate the need to reauthorize the Ryan White CARE Act. It was signed by Congress in 1990 and will expire on Sept. 30, 2005.

“This is a vital federal program that provides financial support to thousands of programs in the United States providing care and treatment to HIV/AIDS patients,” Mammo said.

According to www.studentaidsmarch.org:

HIV/AIDS disproportionately affects young people, with young people ages 15-24 representing 50 percent of the new global HIV infections in 2003.
There are 14 million children orphaned by AIDS.
In Zimbabwe, 18 percent of 15-24 year old women and 5 percent of 15-24 year old men are HIV positive. Other sub-Saharan African countries have similarly disastrous infection rates, with South Africa at more than 15 percent of young women and almost 5 percent of young men infected and Zambia at 11 percent of young women and 3 percent of young men infected.
There are currently 10 million people ages 15-24 living with HIV around the world.
With 42 million people infected with HIV/AIDS around the world, an additional 15,000 becoming infected every day, and 8,200 people dying every day, effective and inexpensive prevention programs are needed that include life-saving, generic medications. To accomplish these goals, the Student Global AIDS Campaign is demanding access to treatment, complete funding of the American share of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, comprehensive prevention programs based on science, and debt cancellation for the poor countries affected most by this pandemic.