National Call for Commitment Day to Campaign Congress to Increase HIV/AIDS Funds Postponed

The National Association of People with AIDS and the Coordinating Committee for National Call to Commitment Day have decided to postpone the Oct. 1 event in the wake of last week's national tragedy, deeming it "insensitive to so many who have lost so much to pursue the planned action" on that date, according to a NAPWA release. The National Call to Commitment Day is a day-long phone campaign calling on Congress to increase federal HIV/AIDS funding for people living with and at risk for HIV. The release stated that although the participating organizations "remain committed" to securing funding for domestic and overseas HIV/AIDS programs, "At this point, it is impossible to know when the attention of Congress and the country will be able to return to more routine matters." NAPWA added that the groups "recognize that we lack vital information at this time about how and when Congress will get back to the business of deciding FY 2002 funding for many federal programs, not just HIV/AIDS programs." The Coordinating Committee members are working with the groups participating in the event to "release a new plan for the action in the coming weeks" and are "monitoring the situation to learn when it will be most appropriate to act." More information on the campaign is available on the NAPWA Web site (NAPWA release, 9/14).