The important advocacy work that had been done by Stuart Merrill will now be taken over by the People With AIDS Coalition of Utah, PWACU.  Stuart has moved to Minneapolis where he will be lobbying for HIV/AIDS funding at the Federal level.  In the short time he has been gone we are already in desperate need for someone to fill his shoes.  With your help PWACU hopes to provide this service to our community.

• Once again funding for HIV treatment in Utah is in jeopardy.
• Once again they had to introduce something akin to Wait Lists for medication in Utah; but of course we are prohibited by state law from calling them “wait lists.”
• Once again, when Wait Lists are introduced, people who need HIV medication have to wait for someone else with HIV to either get insurance, or pass away before they can get life saving meds.
• Once again newly diagnosed people with HIV in Utah have less access to HIV medication than people in the same situation in Cuba, or Brazil.
• Once again we are facing budget cuts to already strapped organizations who serve people with HIV/AIDS.
• Once again we need your help!

We have already contacted the Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee, and the Utah Department of Health is aware that we are taking on this important advocacy work.

We will keep you informed as this work progresses.

Please contact us if you are interested in helping.

Posted 6-21-08