Hi Friend,

Yesterday, more people living in developing countries joined growing waiting lists to access life-saving AIDS medicine that the U.S. government promised it would provide. Today, more people will join those waiting lists. Many won't make it to the top of the list - they'll die before medicine is available.

Also yesterday, President Obama released his budget for 2011. He and Congress had pledged to increase funding to ensure the US does its fair share toward getting everyone access to AIDS treatment. Instead, his 2011 budget put a halt on this: it cut $50 million from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria and gave less than a 2% increase (less than the cost of inflation) to global AIDS overall.

Today, we need you to call your Senators and Representative, and tell them that they need to increase funding for Global AIDS to meet what was authorized when Congress, including President Obama, reauthorized the U.S. Global AIDS Plan a little over a year ago.

You can find out the phone numbers for both of your Senators, and your Representative, here. Or call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and let them know where you live so they can pass you through to the right offices.

When you call, here's what you can say:

President Obama's budget is insufficient to address global AIDS. Representative/Senator _____ needs to work to increase funding for global AIDS to the level that Congress promised when you reauthorized the U.S. Global AIDS Plan a year and a half ago. That means, for 2011, that bilateral PEPFAR programs need $7 billion, and the multilateral Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB,and Malaria needs $2 billion. President Obama proposed to cut funding for the Global Fund, and did not even increase bilateral programs to keep pace with inflation. Unless we commit the resources necessary to fight global AIDS, millions of people that you promised treatment to will be forced onto AIDS drug waiting lists, and will die waiting.

Thank you for taking action! And let us know how it went. Email me at kaytee@healthgap.org and tell me what the staff person said when you called.

- Kaytee

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