Black AIDS Institute releases report on Presidential candidates' HIV/AIDS records

The Black AIDS Institute has released the first in a series of educational briefs on electoral politics.

We Demand Accountability: The 2008 Presidential Elections and the Black AIDS Epidemic. The booklet is the latest in a series of reports and news articles, published as a part of the National Black AIDS Mobilization (BAM) campaign that will help Black America hold elected officials accountable for ending the Black AIDS epidemic.

"Ending AIDS is about leadership-personal, professional and political leadership," said Phill Wilson, the Institute's CEO. "We have aggressively called upon Black America to take responsibility for our own health and that of our communities. And part of that responsibility is insisting that our elected officials also do their part to help us end this epidemic."

As we dive now into the primary season, We Demand Accountability empowers Black voters to engage elected officials by:

• Educating Black voters on the key questions that they should expect any candidate for elected office to answer about HIV/AIDS in our community;
• Putting the campaigns and candidates on notice that Black America will expect them to not only be aware of the problem but to have a plan for dealing with it; and
• Educating voters on what the current presidential candidates have and have not contributed to the fight against AIDS in Black America. Questions Black America Must Ask

  In August 2006, a group of leading voices and organizers in the African American community came together to launch the BAM, led by Balm in Gilead, the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, and the Institute. The Mobilization has four primary goals, and the report evaluates the candidates based on them:

  • Reduce infection rates. The Mobilization seeks to slash HIV infection rates in our community by half over the next five years.
  • Get Blacks tested. The Mobilization seeks to boost the number of Blacks who know their HIV status by 50 percent in the next five years.
  • Support appropriate care. The Mobilization seeks to insure that African Americans who do test positive have access to appropriate care and are personally able to take the necessary steps to live healthily with HIV.
  • Eradicate stigma. The Mobilization seeks to finally wipe out all of the needless, deadly stigmas associated with HIV/AIDS that have for too long blocked Black communities from saving themselves from this epidemic.

The Black AIDS Institute sent written surveys to each of the 16 declared Republican and Democratic presidential candidates in October 2007. The survey asked 15 questions designed to measure the candidates' commitment to accomplishing the Black AIDS Mobilization's goals. Some questions were general; others asked about specific policies. We Demand Accountability summarizes the candidates' positions on these four broad questions, based on answers to the survey, previously published evaluations of candidates on AIDS more broadly, and the candidates' own public statements and platforms.

Candidate's Answers

A review of the overall field of candidates in the Democratic and Republican parties provides a stark comparison. All eight Democratic candidates have robust public records on the core questions; there is scant information available on any of the questions for all of the Republicans. The information available about the Republican candidates does not bode well for the Black epidemic.