113th Congress can help end AIDS

Warm welcomes to all of my newly elected colleagues who will be taking their seats in the 113th Congress come January. You’ve joined a Congress that has the opportunity to leave an astonishing legacy. Whether that legacy is one we are proud to put in the history books is what we have to decide.

In July, during the International AIDS Conference in Washington, I met men and women from all over the world, including the United States, who have been living with HIV for two to 20 years. Some have children they want to see become healthy adults, others are looking forward to starting families, and they all said one thing that stayed with me: We can end AIDS.

And we can. HIV/AIDS is an entirely preventable and treatable disease. As we mark World AIDS Day on Saturday , this year more than ever, we know how HIV is transmitted, we know what allows it to spread, and we know how to address those issues. In some cases, we’re just not doing it. That is where our opportunity presents itself.

I know that these days, the notion of congressional unity sounds like an oxymoron. But one thing I’ve learned from working on HIV/AIDS my entire political career — we are far better united than divided. And together, we have made some extraordinary things happen. Bipartisan legislation, like the Tom Lantos and Henry Hyde U.S. Global Leadership Against AIDS Act, named for unlikely allies — a San Francisco liberal and a Chicago conservative — has made tremendous progress against HIV since it was introduced in 2003, helping to slow the rate of infections and reduce the number of deaths from AIDS.

Jim Leach, a former Republican congressman from Iowa, and I worked closely to establish a global AIDS Trust Fund, helping lay the groundwork for what eventually would become the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. With continued U.S. support, the Global Fund has grown into an effective performance-based mechanism, which ensures that countries take responsibility for building and leading their own sustainable programs.

We’re at a critical tipping point where we could put a stop to a modern-day plague that kills millions of people every year. We can put into place the policies that can help end AIDS. Even in a time of fiscal uncertainty, we have the resources. We just have to be smart about it, and that means responding to the reality of HIV and not the luxury of our political comfort.

Federal investments in research at the National Institutes of Health have paid enormous dividends in the health and well-being of people in the U.S. and around the world and have provided unprecedented hope for an end to the pandemic. The National HIV/AIDS Strategy, released in 2010, created a framework to confront the epidemic in the U.S. And with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, we are poised to dramatically expand HIV testing, care and preventive services, increasing opportunities for all.

Worldwide, we have to maximize our efficiency and build programs that make sense. Family planning, maternal health and HIV are all intrinsically linked, and services need to be integrated. We need to increase support for female condoms, which allow women to exercise their right to protect their own health and plan their families. We need to respond to the needs expressed by key populations, including men who have sex with men, sex workers and people who inject drugs. While that may sound politically risky, this is where we can’t let politics preclude saving lives. As long as we ignore the most affected populations, we are allowing HIV to spread based on whom we deem worthy of protection. That’s not the Congress that we want to be.

We also have to put an end to the stigma and discrimination that fuel the spread of HIV. The HIV virus depends on our own prejudice to survive. As long as we are supporting laws that limit comprehensive sex education, deny federal funding for syringe exchange services or criminalize people living with HIV for consensual sex, biting and spitting, we are allowing HIV to thrive. We need to equip everyone with the knowledge they need to stay healthy, and that begins with taking a look at the conditions that give HIV the upper hand, starting with poverty, homelessness and gender inequality.

That is why I call on Congress to pass my bill, Ending the HIV/AIDS Epidemic Act of 2012. This bill would make sure the resources we put toward HIV programs are used efficiently, as well as increase them. It would build the number and capacity of health care workers, expand treatment and prevention initiatives, end laws that allow HIV to spread and make sure the programs and services we provide will be effective in the long term. It is a basic act of compassion and justice that recognizes everyone’s human right to live healthy lives.

We have the opportunity to be the Congress that traded in political posturing for responsibility. We have the opportunity to be the Congress that chooses compassion over discrimination and remind the world that this is a country of exceptional character, a country that chooses to pursue a future without AIDS.

Rep. Barbara Lee is a Democrat representing California’s 9th District.