November 9, 2007
FIGHTING BACK FOR PUERTO RICO
 |
People are dying of AIDS in Puerto Rico |
Despite claims to the contrary by the Puerto Rican government, the island’s ongoing AIDS catastrophe shows no signs of abating. That’s why activists are once again banding together to demand that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Puerto Rican government address the mismanagement and fraud preventing Puerto Ricans living with HIV/AIDS from accessing basic services and lifesaving medications.
On Tuesday, November 13, Housing Works, the Latino Commission on AIDS, the Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project, UDCAS NY and UDCAS Puerto Rico will collaborate on a phone zap targeting Puerto Rican Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila and San Juan Mayor Jorge Santini Padilla to tell them people in Puerto Rico are dying of AIDS because of their negligence. In October, a phone zap of Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt's office on Latino AIDS Awareness Day, had HHS phones ringing every five minutes, ensuring that the department was aware of Puerto Rico’s troubles.
On Wednesday November 14, in New York City, Housing Works, UDCAS New York, and the Washington Heights CORNER Project will hold a press conference at Foley Square (location pending permit), demanding immediate federal control of AIDS funding in Puerto Rico; an independent authority to investigate AIDS funds mismanagement and come up with a plan to end it; and immediate action to provide HIV prevention tools to IV drug users, who account for the majority of new infections in Puerto Rico.
Since 2006, AIDS services and treatment in Puerto Rico have been crippled by neglect and criminal activity. Audit after audit by the federal government of millions in U.S. tax dollars has documented Puerto Rico’s failure to provide basic care to people with HIV/AIDS. In December, the FBI raided four San Juan Health Department offices, freezing million of dollars in Ryan White CARE Act Title I funds. While the Puerto Rican Health Department claims there is no longer an AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) waiting list for medications, activists have documented hundreds of people who are still waiting to receive medications.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt has the power to instruct the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the division of HHS that oversees HIV/AIDS in all U.S. states and territories, to take over the dispersal of millions in Ryan White CARE Act funds in Puerto Rico. HRSA has taken such action in U.S cities such as Washington, D.C, Baltimore and Orlando. So far HRSA has refused to get involved in Puerto Rico, stating in a press release, “Each [Ryan White] grantee is ultimately responsible for planning allocating, and administering its funds.”
More than 30,000 people in Puerto Rico with HIV/AIDS are now fighting for their lives. More than 19,000 Puerto Ricans have died from AIDS.
To participate in the press conference, e-mail Tamara Oyola-Santiago at t.oyola-santiago@housingworks.org. More more information on the phone zap, click here or e-mail James Albino at jalbino@nmac.org.