Programs to combat AIDS must be maintained

Saturday, November 19, 2011

November 19 readers' letters

From Mercury News readers

Posted: 11/18/2011 08:00:00 PM PST

Programs to combat AIDS must be maintained

Hillary Clinton on Nov. 8 called for an AIDS-free generation in a landmark speech at the National Institutes of Health. With the tremendous progress in AIDS treatment and prevention in recent years, she declared that creation of an AIDS-free generation is now U.S. policy. This exciting change in the direction of health history has been enabled by and depends on the continuation of existing programs to combat AIDS.

Our U.S. House of Representatives and most of the Republican presidential candidates are calling for severe cuts in foreign aid. Such cuts will starve these programs and cause us to miss this opportunity to save millions of lives and billions of dollars, all to reduce the budget deficit by 0.7 percent. Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein must insist on fulfilling our pledges to these programs so our children can live in an AIDS-free world, and be proud of our courage and foresight.

Peter Fiekowsky
Los Altos