[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 103 (Thursday, July 22, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1462]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          THE ALASKA AIDS ASSISTANCE ASSOCIATION IN ANCHORAGE

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. DON YOUNG

                               of alaska

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 22, 2004

  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, last week at the 15th International 
AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, the world's attention was drawn 
to the 38 million people around the world who are living with HIV--
nearly a million of whom live in the United States.
  Moreover, many HIV positive individuals in the United States face 
significant hurdles that prevent them from engaging in long-term health 
care, including unstable financial and housing situations and a lack of 
trust between patients and health care providers. As a result, 
approximately 250,000 individuals who are aware of their HIV status are 
not receiving regular primary medical care; a population the Health 
Resources and Services Administration defines as the ``unmet need'' in 
the domestic epidemic. However, the United States should not and must 
not consider this lack of HIV health care inevitable because solutions 
do exist.
  With this in mind, I rise today to recognize and share with you work 
that is being done in my own state of Alaska to successfully bring HIV 
treatment and care to the people who need it. The Alaska AIDS 
Assistance Association in Anchorage uses ``Inter-Agency Networking'' to 
connect HIV positive Alaskans to a system of integrated health care and 
support. The activity accomplishes this by providing health care 
agencies with opportunities to exchange information and share 
resources, thus increasing the agencies understanding of community 
needs and enhancing their ability to provide care to more people living 
with HIV.
  Inter-Agency Networking is indebted to a capacity-building initiative 
called Connecting to Care, which was developed by AIDS Action in 
collaboration with the Health Resource and Service Administration, 
Connecting to Care identified the Alaskan AIDS Assistance Association's 
activity as a ``model practice'' and disseminated it to more than 
10,000 health providers throughout the country as a model intervention 
that has been successful in connecting HIV positive individuals to 
care. My hope is that the Connecting to Care initiative will guide 
other communities in their own development of activities that connect 
HIV positive individuals with the health care they want and need.

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