Opinion Editorial by CEO and Founder Phill Wilson

In This Issue: Devastating State Budget Cuts

As legislators on the federal, state and local levels attempt to deal with distressing realities associated with balancing their recession-ravaged budgets, all too often they look to make cuts that affect the most vulnerable among us. Whether those decisions involve closing community libraries in Philadelphia; shutting down schools in Kansas City, Mo.; or implementing furlough days at the Employment Development Department in California, they devastate the lives of poor and working-class people.

One line item currently at risk in many states is AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) funding. Without ADAP, low-income people cannot afford AIDS medications, which can easily cost more than $1,000 each month. Slashing ADAP makes no sense. Not only is cutting people off from their meds deadly for those people directly affected, but it also raises the HIV viral burden in communities and runs counter to our nation's goal of ending the AIDS epidemic. Public health officials know that 40 percent more people get infected with HIV each year than previously believed. With that frightening reality, you would think that preserving AIDS funding would be a priority.

In this issue we take a look at ADAP cuts in North Carolina and California, the state where I live and where some of the most severe AIDS-related budget cuts were threatened and, thanks to AIDS activists, mostly rebuffed. Cuts were implemented in ADAP funding to HIV-positive inmates, however, which isn't surprising, since they cannot speak for themselves. In "Through My Eyes" you can read the first-person account of one woman who learned that she was HIV-positive while she was incarcerated, and her journey to receive proper medical care.

Finally, if you are in Dallas or Los Angeles in April, look for the TrumpAIDS National Bid Whist Tournament and HIV/AIDS Health Fair on the 17th and 24th respectively. And, if you live in Ohio, keep your eyes open for the Test 1 Million celebrity tour in Akron, Cleveland and Cincinnati from April 21 through 24.

Yours in the struggle,

Phill