November, 24 2009, 12:58pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Lola
Adele-Oso, DC Fights Back, lola@nationalaidshousing.org,
202.288.7866
Matthew
Kavanagh, Health GAP, matthew@healthgap.org,
202.486.2488
Michael
Stulman, Africa Action, michael.stulman@africaaction.
202.469.9542
AIDS Activists to President Obama, Mayor Fenty: Your Choices are Failing People Living with HIV
Following the recent
announcement by
the World Health Organization that HIV is the leading killer of
women
around the world, and reports that HIV infection rates in Washington
D.C. have
reached roughly one in 20 people, DC residents and AIDS activists will
gather
in protest in Washington, DC on World AIDS Day, Tuesday, December 1st.
Activists will demonstrate, in a stark display, the choices faced by
Mayor
Fenty and President Obama: maintain the current course and millions
will
die--or fix the system and they will live.
WASHINGTON
Following the recent
announcement by
the World Health Organization that HIV is the leading killer of
women
around the world, and reports that HIV infection rates in Washington
D.C. have
reached roughly one in 20 people, DC residents and AIDS activists will
gather
in protest in Washington, DC on World AIDS Day, Tuesday, December 1st.
Activists will demonstrate, in a stark display, the choices faced by
Mayor
Fenty and President Obama: maintain the current course and millions
will
die--or fix the system and they will live.
What: A mock funeral procession at the
White House
and creative action at the John. A Wilson Building
When
and Where:
Tuesday, December 1 2009 beginning at 12:15 at Lafayette Park, across
from the
White House; proceed to Freedom Plaza, 14th and Pennsylvania Avenue
Why: Despite promises by President Obama
and
Congress, U.S. funding for global AIDS is being flat-lined, creating
devastating consequences in developing countries, where people are
being denied
access to life extending treatment. Washington, DC has an HIV epidemic
of
historic proportions, brought on by a system that fails to provide
proper HIV
care. Homeless people with HIV sit on waiting lists for housing and the
mis-management of AIDS funding denies people life-saving prevention,
treatment,
and care services.
Sponsored by: DC Fights Back, Act Up
Philadelphia, the
Campaign to End AIDS, Health GAP, Women's Collective; START at
Westminster,
National AIDS Housing Coalition, Metropolitan Washington Public Health
Association, Housing Works, Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan
Community
Churches, Positive Places and Women of Color United, Africa Action.
Africa Action is a national organization that works for political, economic and social justice in Africa. Through the provision of accessible information and analysis combined with the mobilization of public pressure we work to change the policies and policy-making processes of U.S. and multinational institutions toward Africa. The work of Africa Action is grounded in the history and purpose of its predecessor organizations, the American Committee on Africa (ACOA), The Africa Fund, and the Africa Policy Information Center (APIC), which have fought for freedom and justice in Africa since 1953. Continuing this tradition, Africa Action seeks to re-shape U.S. policy toward African countries.
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