Members of the American Medical Student Association, on Sept. 4, gathered in Federal Building Plaza in downtown Chicago in order to ensure that Illinois' representatives in the U.S. Senate continue to support the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief ( PEPFAR ), an initiative aimed at fighting HIV/AIDS around the world.
Partners in Health Engage-Chicago and HIV Prevention Justice Alliance also sponsored the rally.
PEPFAR has been beset by budget cuts, and is currently about $300 million below FY 2011 levels, so these activists want commitments from U.S. Senators Mark Kirk and Richard Durbin that they will press for restoring the PEPFAR funding. While the senators, who both sit on the Senate Appropriations Committee, have voiced their support, AMSA and others maintain that, in recent months, they've shown little effort to actually push that funding through. One protester even wore a milk carton with Kirk and Durbin's images to signify that the senators' efforts had been "missing."
"We know that they have the power to get the program back on track to at least 2011 levels," said Alison Case of AMSA. "Sens. Durbin and Kirk are no strangers to the AIDS movement. They've signed on to numerous 'Dear Colleagues' letters in the past, calling for robust funding for PEPFAR. As recently as this year, they've done so, and they both signed an ambitious request to the president, for PEPFAR to set a whole-new target of 12 million people on treatment by 2016. … But now, with our flagship program, PEPFAR, facing devastating cuts, we can't seem to find them."
Constance Palas, director of outreach for Kirk's office, read a statement from the senator in which he pledged to "continue to support PEPFAR, the Global Fund, the Ryan White program and NIH research aimed to finding a cure for AIDS in the years ahead, to achieve an AIDS-free generation."
Tran Nguyen, an aide to Durbin, read a statement that he would be "pushing back against the voices calling for an end or reduction to foreign assistance programs like PEPFAR and the Global Fund. Senator Durbin promises to stand with all of you in your work to address this domestic and international challenge."
Case then told Nguyen, "I don't think either of them have committed to the $300 million. That's something we'd like you to convey that that's what we're looking for. This is very similar to what we've seen in the past, and it's nice. But we need them to really stand up for us."
Shortly after the rally, Case added, "We've asked for them to advocate for this and we really didn't see that commitment at all. We appreciate the support, but we need the action. We need them to stand up and be the champions that they've been in the past."
