Don't Back Down in the Fight Against AIDS

A recent report by UNICEF found that 890,000 young adults from Nigeria and South Africa were infected with HIV last year. If this trend continues, an estimated 2500 Africans under the age of 24 will be newly infected on a daily basis in 2011.

Studies have shown that aggressive education campaigns in countries like Senegal have dramatically reduced the occurrence of HIV and AIDS. In 2008, President Obama promised to allocate $7 billion to fund bilateral AIDS prevention. His recent proposed budget, however, will slash this funding by half.

Without proper funding, 2.9 million African mothers will be unable to access care to prevent transmitting HIV to their unborn children. One million more young adults will be denied treatment altogether.

We must not back down from the fight against HIV and AIDS. Tell President Obama to keep the promise he made to those suffering in Africa. We need to make AIDS prevention a priority.