AIDS Activists to Congress: You have the keys to stop AIDS Students, doctors, people living with HIV/AIDS deliver giant keys to Congress; demand comprehensive global HIV prevention and treatment WASHINGTON, DC - Using giant keys to symbolize their demands, students, health care professionals, and people living with HIV/AIDS descended on Capitol Hill today, demanding Congress to "unlock the solution to the global AIDS crisis."  Activists urged Congress to support a bill that would train and retain doctors and nurses in sub-Saharan Africa, avoid stigmatizing sex workers, support 4 million people on treatment, and provide unrestricted, science-based sexual education. Recently, both the Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs recently approved the reauthorization of the U.S. global AIDS plan; soon the full Congress will vote on the bill. The plan, which President Bush introduced in 2003, is up for renewal for the first time. Tucker Landesman, one of the event's organizers and a student at George Washington University, spoke to the "prostitution loyalty oath." The US Agency for International Development requires organizations to condemn sex work in exchange for U.S. funding, but many organizations (and the government of Brazil) have refused to sign the oath and condemn the individuals they are working to protect: "Neither the House nor Senate bill repeals this discriminatory policy – thus official US policy is to alienate organizations most capable of preventing HIV in sex working communities. How can we expect to end the global pandemic if we continue to stigmatize an already vulnerable population?" Said Stephanie Jamison, the American Medical Student Association's Global AIDS Organizer: "In sub-Saharan Africa, people are dying of treatable and preventable diseases simply because there are not enough doctors and nurses to provide care.  The U.S. should fund the training and retention of at least 140,000 healthcare professionals who are desperately needed to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases." "As the wealthiest country in the world, the United States has a deep responsibility to help fund HIV treatment for those in need," said Jose DeMarco, a member of ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power). "Because the US makes up 1/3 of the worlds wealth, it is our responsibility to support 1/3 of the people who are HIV+ on treatment." Activists also demanded comprehensive prevention without ideological restrictions. "In countries where HIV/AIDS is so rampant and destructive, how can we justify withholding essential information?" said Madison Reeve, a member of the Student Global AIDS Campaign at St. Michael's College. The demonstration follows a weekend-long national youth conference on AIDS, Trade and Child Survival, and will segue into a lobby day for student global health activists and their allies. The demonstration is sponsored by ACT UP Philadelphia, ActionAid USA, Advocates for Youth, American Medical Student Association, Americans for Informed Democracy, Center for Health and Gender Equity, Health GAP, Student Campaign for Child Survival, Student Global AIDS Campaign, Women of Color United, and University Coalitions for Global Health.