NEWSPUBLIC HEALTH

Think of your favourite band or singer. Chances are that you not only know their songs, you also know their favourite products. Whether it’s a clothing label or perfume, a car or a phone, the products they advertise are part of their image. You might even know about their favourite social causes – as the face of a charity which supports sick kids, a supporter of cancer or AIDS research, or a champion of the environment.

For kids in Indonesia, the product most often tied in with international musicians is cigarettes. The reason? Most major music events are sponsored by big tobacco.

The latest bands lining up as part of an Indonesian event being sponsored by a company selling the world’s most lethal drug include U.S. musicians 30 Seconds to Mars, Good Charlotte, Neon Trees, We are Scientists and Ed Kowalczyk, Irish band The Cranberries, and U.K. bands Happy Mondays and Blood Red Shoes. The event is Java Rockin’ Land festival, Jakarta from July 22 to 24 and will attract tens of thousands of Indonesian young people. Sponsored by cigarette company Gudang Garam, the festival is 3 days of top music delivered with a blast of tobacco promotion.

This cause has been reporting on the ADAP Crisis for months now and most of the news we have shared has been bleak. Today we have some encouraging news.

AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAP) provide vital assistance to HIV-positive individuals who cannot afford the the incredibly expensive medications needed to treat and manage this devastating disease. Without these essential medications, a person’s HIV disease is more likely to progress to AIDS. HIV/AIDS can be life-threatening without these medications.

As of April 21, the waiting list for ADAP is at 7,674 people in 11 states. (The number was 5,100 in 10 states when we first began reporting about the ADAP Crisis in January.) These individuals are being denied coverage for their life-saving medications due to budget cuts on the federal and state levels. They are now at an even greater risk of seeing a drastic decline in their health while they wait for their medications.

Florida has been at the center of the ADAP Crisis since the beginning. Now it seems that the crisis could get even worse.

The AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), is a vital program that assists HIV-positive individuals with paying for the incredibly expensive medications needed to treat and manage this devastating disease. Without these essential medications, a person’s HIV disease is more likely to progress to AIDS. HIV/AIDS can become life-threatening.

For a variety of reasons, ADAP funding is being slashed in many states across the country. Thousands of HIV-positive people have been terminated from the program and thousands more are being placed on waiting lists. This means that a person living with HIV/AIDS may need to wait to receive the medications they need to save their life.

Our nation is potentially one step closer to seeing an end to Abstinence-Only Education.

Earlier this month, legislation was re-introduced in Congress seeking an end to this limited form of sexuality education. The bill is entitled the "Repealing Ineffective and Incomplete Abstinence-Only Program Funding Act." That about sums it up.

The annual funds already earmarked for Abstinence-Only Education Programs would be redirected to "evidence-based, comprehensive sex education programs." The bill is sponsored in the Senate by Frank Lautenberg (D-New Jersey) and in the House by Barbara Lee (D-California).

The bill will face a tough fight. Many conservative lawmakers have been on a war-path to stop funding many family planning programs. This means funding cuts to all community based clinics that provide health care services to low income women and families. HIV testing, cancer screenings, family planning counseling, condom and other birth control distribution... it's all in jeopardy.

It seems like a good idea. Invest in the expansion of our nation's community health centers (CHCs) so that low income workers without adequate health insurance would have a regular doctor to visit, instead of the only other alternative, high-cost hospital emergency rooms. Keeping this workforce healthy and on the job would also maintain productivity in our recovering economy.

Unfortunately, the federal funding to grow health center capacity is in doubt right now as Congress debates a new budget. House Republicans have proposed cutting $1.3 billion from health center funding.

This week, new research, from the Geiger Gibson/RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative, pinpoints just how much we stand to lose in health care efficiency savings if the funding is cut as proposed; $15 billion. Put another way, for every $1 invested in CHC expansion, there is a potential savings in health care costs of $11.50.

Finally, some recognition from a top health official of the ADAP Crisis in America!

Former Surgeon General of the U.S., Dr. David Satcher, recently wrote an opinion piece for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution declaring that US government officials "must act to preserve drugs for HIV/AIDS."

AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAP) provide critical and life-saving medications to low-income people living with HIV who are unable to afford them. As HIV meds continue to be incredibly expensive, more and more people are seeking financial assistance. Unfortunately, states across the country continue to cut funding to this valuable program. The result is more HIV+ individuals unable to afford their medications, and therefore more HIV+ individuals at risk of death.

It seems like a logical win-win plan to fight cancer. The California Cancer Research Act is advocating to raise the excise tax on a pack of cigarettes by $1 in a voter referendum scheduled for the next statewide ballot.

If approved, the initiative could raise between $600-$750 million per year for cancer research, education and smoking cessation programs for California residents. The vote could be as soon as June if there is a special election, otherwise it would appear on the February 2012 ballot. So, smokers paying for research and education that may save them in the long run seems to make sense, except to one group: cigarette makers.

Seven-time Tour de France winner and cancer survivor, Lance Armstrong, joined the cause last month. "Well, I continue to be a person, as a cancer survivor, who hates this disease," said Armstrong. "I hate cancer. It's real simple. And no matter what we have to do in any state, in any country, to help fight the disease, then we'll do it."

Sometimes it is difficult for those of us separated from an injustice thousands of miles away to get a real sense of the struggle and passion of those affected. For those HIV/AIDS patients living in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, the possibility of losing access to their low-cost, generic medicines is not only very real but also very scary.

That's the message that a new advocacy video from MSF Access Campaign is delivering, in the wake of news that the European Union and India are working on an international trade agreement that could threaten the availability of generic HIV/AIDS medicines around the globe.

Please watch this video below, which is direct from the protest in India. And if you haven't already, add your name to our petition to the EU and India trade ministers asking them to not disrupt access to generic medicines in the new free trade agreement they are currently negotiating.

Access to life-saving, low-cost generic medicines is critical to HIV/AIDS patients everywhere, but especially in developing countries. Over five million people battling the disease, across Asia, Africa and Latin America, rely on generic drug manufacturers, primarily in India. Indian pharma producers supply 50 percent of the world's AIDS medicines and an amazing 90 percent of the developing world's needs.

That supply chain is now threatened by a new free trade agreement (FTA) being negotiated between the European Union (EU) and India. Changes to intellectual property rules in the agreement, pushed by the EU, may severely limit or delay these Indian companies from continuing their public health mission.

Last week, representatives of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), the international medical humanitarian organization, protested along with thousands of people in New Delhi, urging the Indian government to resist pressure from the European Union to accept the new provisions.

Just as our Community Health Centers were fending off state budget cuts of over $90 million, they are under attack again from an approved U.S. House budget bill that has approved cuts of $1.3 billion. While the Senate considers the bill, we all need to understand the full impact of these cuts on health care's best kept secret.

These reductions will have profound effects on the mission and capacity of your local community health centers including:

- eliminating capacity of health centers to serve 11 million patients over the next year;
- ending funding for 127 new health centers in under served districts across the country whose residents have long waited for access to doctors and health care services;
- forcing health centers to lay off 10,000 employees in rural and urban communities nationwide.