Edwards: “We have a moral imperative to do better…”

Talking yesterday at the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Health Care Forum in D.C., Democratic Presidential Candidate John Edwards offered his plans for combating HIV/AIDS.

And Edwards’ plans aren’t just about tackling the massive issue of AIDS in Africa or globally (which, while devastatingly valid, always seems much safer of an issue for politicians than tackling AIDS at home among Americans, since our AIDS predicament involves issues of race, class, drug use, health care access and expense, and homosexuality).

Among Edwards’ plans are age-appropriate sex education for kids in schools, and supporting needle exchanges programs for drug users. “…I think we also ought to promote programs that prevent harm and specifically needle exchange, which I support,” Edwards note. “We ought to get rid of the federal ban on needle exchange.”

Edwards also wants to focus attention on fighting the spread of HIV in African-American and Latino communities, where infection rates are most dire. “This is a disease that hits people of color much harder than others,” Edwards explained, noting that in the U.S., two out of every three newly diagnosed cases are with people of color. That’s not earth-shattering news, but it’s always worth stressing.
And in a notable detail, Edwards also emphasized the urgency of guaranteeing health insurance for all Americans to make sure they get the care they need, and expanding Medicaid coverage so that HIV-positive individuals receive proper and necessary treatment before they reach later stages of disabilities and AIDS.

Another quote from Edwards at the conference:

“We can’t talk seriously about ending HIV/AIDS without guaranteeing health for every single man, woman and child in America… Let me blunt: If you don’t have health insurance - good health insurance - you are substantially more likely to die from this disease.”

Edwards is the first Presidential candidate to respond to a “call to action” for an National AIDS Strategy, issued last week from over 100 AIDS organizations, which included Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the National Association of People with AIDS, Housing Works, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and POZ.com.