Advocacy Resources
IDSTL Advocacy Survey
The Infectious Diseases Society of St. Louis (IDSTL) is exploring the addition of an advocacy arm and would value your input.
Please take a brief survey to help us understand how we can best provide advocacy resources and support for our members and the broader community. Your feedback will help shape next steps.
Voices for the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program: Share your story
Level funding for the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program AIDS Drug Assistance Program and other parts of the program for nearly two decades, on top of cuts to the Medicaid program, dramatic increases in insurance premiums for Affordable Care Act coverage and rising drug prices, are causing states to implement cost containment strategies that threaten access to HIV treatment and other services for people with HIV. See NASTAD’s ADAP Watch.
Help put a human face on cuts to the Ryan White Program and ADAP by sharing a story describing how your patients have been or would be affected if they lost access to ADAP assistance or other services supported by the Ryan White Program. Explain the serious clinical and economic consequences for your patients and community if HIV treatment is delayed or interrupted. The stories will be used as part of a social media campaign to prevent state cuts to ADAP and to urge increased funding for the Ryan White Program, including ADAP.
By sharing your experience and your patients’ stories, you can help raise awareness of the harmful, costly and preventable impacts of cuts to ADAP and other Ryan White Program Parts in addition to strengthening the case for increasing federal funding for the Ryan White Program to protect access to lifesaving HIV treatment and care.
Disclaimer: Stories may be shared with the media or on social media. If you prefer to submit your story anonymously, please clearly indicate this information in your submission, and describe your role in HIV care instead of providing your name.
Clicking the button above will open a link in a new browser window: https://idsociety.quorum.us/campaign/156608/
Ask your House representative to co-sponsor the antibiotic development bill
Capitol Hill update: Representatives Buddy Carter (R-GA), Scott Peters (D-CA), Nick Langworthy (R-NY), Mike Levin (D-CA) and Mike Carey (R-OH) introduced an updated bipartisan Pioneering Antimicrobial Subscriptions to End Upsurging Resistance (PASTEUR) Act in the House of Representatives.
What you can do: Ask your House representative to co-sponsor PASTEUR. The more representatives co-sponsor a bill, the greater chance that bill has of advancing in Congress and becoming law. Representatives are more likely to co-sponsor bills when they receive requests from their constituents. Take one minute to complete the form to contact your representative.
Why this matters: The PASTEUR Act, which IDSA helped develop, would establish a subscription program to provide federal contracts for critically needed novel antibiotics and antifungals, with payments delinked from sales volume to provide a predictable return on investment for antibiotic and antifungal developers. The updated version of the bill includes an objective scoring mechanism to determine contract eligibility and size, similar to the approach taken in the U.K. The bill would also provide resources to strengthen antimicrobial stewardship programs in hospitals and long-term care facilities. The updated version of the bill also includes a stewardship pilot program for outpatient settings.
Act Now!
Clicking the button above will open a link in a new browser window: https://idsociety.quorum.us/campaign/155176/
