Contents Chapter 1: The Case for CARE ActReauthorization

Why the CARE Act is so urgently needed

T he Ryan White CARE Act expires on September 30, 2000. The HIV/ AIDS health care and related supportive services provided through the CARE Act are critically important and will continue to be to tens of thousands of people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States. Therefore Congress should reauthorize the CARE Act before September 2000 in order to ensure continued access to these critically important systems of care and life-saving services.

Impact

 
688,200 individuals have been diagnosed with AIDS in the United States (12/31/1998) 417,357 have died (12/31/1998) An estimated 40,000 new infections occur each year 600,000 to 900,000 individuals are estimated to be living with HIV/ AIDS in the U.S. today

The HIV/AIDS epidemic in the U.S. must be viewed as part of a worldwide pandemic that continues to devastate the public health systems in many countries and ends the lives of millions worldwide. Through December 1998, 688,200 individuals in the U.S. had been diagnosed with AIDS, the end stage of HIV disease. Of this number, 417,357 have already died. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that over 40,000 Americans become infected with HIV annually and that today an estimated 600,000-900,000 Americans are living with HIV disease, including AIDS.

Communities Affected
The HIV epidemic in America is far from over. Since the CARE Act began in 1991, the number of American communities eligible for emergency assistance under Title I has grown from 16 to an astounding 51. As the HIV epidemic continues its relentless expansion, communities of color, African American women, Latinas, and gay and bisexual men are being disproportionately impacted. While continuing to significantly impact white gay and bisexual men, HIV infections since 1995 have increased most rapidly within communities of color. And today fully two thirds of Title I and Title III clients are people of color.

Increasingly, the newly infected are likely to be of color, heterosexual, poor, women, youth, substance users, the elderly, and homeless or marginally housed persons. Some of these factors further complicate HIV service delivery and strain already overburdened community-based and local public health care systems. As we approach the millennium, it is critical for us to recognize that no community is immune from this disease, and that we must care for each community if we are to stop the progress of HIV and preserve the nation's health care systems.

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