FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 1, 2001
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ANA Recommits to Fighting AIDS
National Organization Urges Congress to Allocate Funds Globally
Washington, DC --Today at the annual business meeting of the American Nurses Association (ANA), delegates passed a resolution dedicated to fighting the AIDS epidemic on both national and foreign soil. This resolution is one among several passed by nearly 800 registered nurses who gathered in Washington, DC, over the past week for the ANA House of Delegates to address concerns regarding nursing and safe, quality patient care, as well as business of the ANA.
“As health care professionals, we see the devastation that the disease causes to individuals and families,” said Foley. “We need to join forces for a massive global mobilization against the AIDS epidemic.”
More than 36 million people are HIV-positive globally, including 800,000 to 900,000 in the United States. Since the beginning of the epidemic through December 2000, more than 400,000 people within the U.S. have died, with a disproportionate impact on minority communities. The fourth leading cause of death globally, AIDS is the leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa. In at least eight African countries, the adult population infected with HIV surpasses 15 percent. And, in seven African countries, more than 20 percent of the 15 to 40-year-old population is infected, setting back decades of progress in raising living standards and life expectancy.
The resolution approved by the ANA House of Delegates urges Congress to make a commitment to eradicating this disease by allocating funds globally, especially targeting sub-Saharan Africa and other developing countries that have been most affected. Reports from the Johannesburg Star say that 22 percent of South African student nurses are infected with the virus, and the percentage is expected to reach 40 percent by 2010. Additionally, 20 percent of South Africa’s registered nurses are HIV positive, thus decimating their nursing workforce.
“We can’t afford for the number of persons infected by the AIDS virus to continuously climb at such an alarming rate,” said ANA President Mary Foley, MS, RN. “As shown in South Africa, registered nurses, by virtue of the fact that they are frontline health care providers, run a tremendous risk of contact with patients’ blood and other body fluids, thus exposing them to the risk of contracting this deadly virus and other bloodborne diseases. The passage of this resolution shows a commitment on the part of the nursing profession to educate ourselves and the public about the devastating nature of this disease and its prevention and treatment.”
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The American Nurses Association is the only full-service professional organization representing the nation's 2.7 million Registered Nurses through its constituent member state nurses associations. The ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.
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