Download the full report (PDF)
Download a one-page summary of the report (PDF)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
Nerissa Irizarry, Positive Women’s Network-USA – [email protected]
Melanie Medalle, SisterLove, Inc. – [email protected]
Ariel Tazkargy, National Women’s Health Network – [email protected]
March 10, 2015 – March 10th marks the observance of National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day – an occasion to recognize the impact of HIV on the lives of women and girls. On this National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, three organizations working to achieve health justice for women are illuminating the healthcare coverage disparities that impact women living with HIV, and proposing solutions for HIV and health justice advocates.
Positive Women’s Network-USA (PWN-USA), National Women’s Health Network, and SisterLove, Inc., today released a collaborative policy paper examining the unique healthcare needs of women living with HIV, highlighting key opportunities as well as gaps in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and underlining the importance of the Ryan White Program in the current arrangement of public healthcare for people living with HIV.
“Although the first-ever National HIV/AIDS Strategy, released in 2010, underscored the importance of ensuring access to care for people with HIV, women with HIV continue to face barriers to care which must be addressed,” says Naina Khanna, PWN-USA Executive Director.
In this extremely unsettled post-Affordable Care Act environment, thousands of low-income women and communities of color affected by HIV still lack sufficient health coverage to meet physical and mental health needs, including HIV-related healthcare and life-saving medications. As a result, many people living with HIV rely on critical gap-filling funds administered through Ryan White, for HIV care, medication, and support services. But for women with HIV, access to care through Ryan White is facing a massive threat: elimination of women-specific services if Ryan White Part D is consolidated into Part C, as proposed by the President’s 2016 budget.
We are releasing this policy paper for advocates to use in efforts to promote the needs of women living with HIV in all federal and state-level healthcare coverage discussions. “The unique needs of women affected by HIV, especially in the Deep South, require a greater amount of attention and priority in the implementation of the ACA and the preservation of the Ryan White CARE Act,” says Dazon Dixon Diallo, Executive Director/CEO of SisterLove, Inc. “We will never get to the end of this epidemic without achieving better health outcomes and lower incidence of HIV disease in women in this country.”
We encourage advocates to use the information presented as an entry point for discussions with policymakers, and to use and adapt the recommendations to advance policy goals.
Read and download the full report: Ryan White and the Affordable Care Act: Advocating for Public Healthcare for Women Living with HIV (PDF)
Read and download a one-page summary of the report (PDF)
Download the full report (PDF)
Download a one-page summary of the report (PDF)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
Nerissa Irizarry, Positive Women’s Network-USA – [email protected]
Melanie Medalle, SisterLove, Inc. – [email protected]
Ariel Tazkargy, National Women’s Health Network – [email protected]
March 10, 2015 – March 10th marks the observance of National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day – an occasion to recognize the impact of HIV on the lives of women and girls. On this National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, three organizations working to achieve health justice for women are illuminating the healthcare coverage disparities that impact women living with HIV, and proposing solutions for HIV and health justice advocates.
Positive Women’s Network-USA (PWN-USA), National Women’s Health Network, and SisterLove, Inc., today released a collaborative policy paper examining the unique healthcare needs of women living with HIV, highlighting key opportunities as well as gaps in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and underlining the importance of the Ryan White Program in the current arrangement of public healthcare for people living with HIV.
“Although the first-ever National HIV/AIDS Strategy, released in 2010, underscored the importance of ensuring access to care for people with HIV, women with HIV continue to face barriers to care which must be addressed,” says Naina Khanna, PWN-USA Executive Director.
In this extremely unsettled post-Affordable Care Act environment, thousands of low-income women and communities of color affected by HIV still lack sufficient health coverage to meet physical and mental health needs, including HIV-related healthcare and life-saving medications. As a result, many people living with HIV rely on critical gap-filling funds administered through Ryan White, for HIV care, medication, and support services. But for women with HIV, access to care through Ryan White is facing a massive threat: elimination of women-specific services if Ryan White Part D is consolidated into Part C, as proposed by the President’s 2016 budget.
We are releasing this policy paper for advocates to use in efforts to promote the needs of women living with HIV in all federal and state-level healthcare coverage discussions. “The unique needs of women affected by HIV, especially in the Deep South, require a greater amount of attention and priority in the implementation of the ACA and the preservation of the Ryan White CARE Act,” says Dazon Dixon Diallo, Executive Director/CEO of SisterLove, Inc. “We will never get to the end of this epidemic without achieving better health outcomes and lower incidence of HIV disease in women in this country.”
We encourage advocates to use the information presented as an entry point for discussions with policymakers, and to use and adapt the recommendations to advance policy goals.
Read and download the full report: Ryan White and the Affordable Care Act: Advocating for Public Healthcare for Women Living with HIV (PDF)
Read and download a one-page summary of the report (PDF)
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