April 20, 2007

SOUTH CAROLINA’S ADAP TIME BOMB

Time is running out for people on South Carolina's ADAP waiting list.

The ongoing battle over South Carolina’s 540-person AIDS Drugs Assistance Program (ADAP) waiting list exploded in the op-ed pages of S.C.’s biggest newspaper, The State this week. Warren Bolton, one of the newspaper’s editors, penned a harsh editorial entitled “S.C. Sits on HIV/AIDS ‘Bomb’ ” on Wednesday that painted a grim picture of deadly political neglect.

Bolton’s article paraphrases one S.C. state representative who told him that other reps “all but said let them die,” referring to those on the waiting list. Bolton also quotes Dr. Helmut Albrecht, chief of the division of infectious diseases at the University of South Carolina, as saying “there’s actually almost a genocide going on in the African-American population here,” referring to the fact that about 75 percent of new HIV cases are among African-Americans.

Karen Bates, cochair of the South Carolina chapter of the Campaign to End AIDS, has been on the front lines of the ADAP fight since July 2006 and applauds Bolton’s bold editorial. “I have been trying to sound this alarm for months,” she says. “Our state could not only save lives, but save millions of taxpayer dollars by taking the steps that neighboring states have already taken to address this epidemic.”

State legislators have proposed $3 million in one-time funds for ADAP but health officials and AIDS activists are calling for $8 million. So far, their calls have so far gone unanswered.

To read the editorial in its entirety, click here. To contact the South Carolina chapter of the Campaign to End AIDS, click here.