Brandon Macsata, chief executive of the ADAP Advocacy Association, told The Independent that the organization “asked people to start at 7 a.m. [Thursday] and continue through 7 p.m. [Thursday] and to target the campaign toward President Obama and ask him to step up and begin to lead on this crisis.”
“We feel that to this point he’s been pretty quiet,” Macsata said, “and when we’re approaching 10,000 people on the waiting list for the medication we know will keep them healthy productive members of their communities, it’s just unacceptable.”
The AIDS Drug Assistance Program(known as ADAP) provides medications for the treatment of HIV and AIDS for people who cannot afford to pay because they are unemployed, uninsured or under-insured. It has been in a funding crisis for the past few years.
The National Alliance of States and Territorial AIDS Directors’ latest ADAP Watch(.pdf) indicates that as of last week at least 9,000 people in 11 states were on a waiting list.