Norton Files Bill to Stop Spread of HIV/AIDS Here (5/3/07)

Norton Files Bill to Stop Spread of HIV/AIDS Here Before
Men's AIDS Town Hall Meeting This Evening
May 3, 2007

Washington, DC--Today before her Men's Town Hall Meeting on AIDS, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) filed a bill key to the detection of HIV/AIDS that would help to stop its spread in D.C. The Dedicated Dental Service for HIV/AIDS Act (DDS HIV/AIDS) offers tuition loan repayment relief similar to what physicians and nurses receive, in order to address a sharply diminishing supply of dentists in the U.S., particularly dentists who serve people with HIV/AIDS. Norton's separate town meetings with clergy, women and teens emphasize safe sex and testing to bring down the city's AIDS rate, the highest in the country. Tonight's town hall meeting, "A Frank Discussion For Men-About Men-Between Men on Sex, STDs, Responsibility and Community," features nationally syndicated radio host Russ Parr of WKYS 93.9 FM and Councilmembers Kwame Brown and Harry Thomas, Jr. and will occur from 6:30 to 8:30 PM at the John A. Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 412.

Norton, who introduced the bill last year at Howard University Dental School, one of the few facilities serving the poor and people with HIV and AIDS, said that Howard professors point out that the first indicators of HIV/AIDS infection are often oral health problems, which also serve as important benchmarks for disease progression. Norton said, "Access to dental services is especially important in big cities like the District of Columbia and in rural areas where one of the most serious problems with the spread of HIV is the reluctance of people to be tested for such a disease. Access to dental care is critically important from the earliest onset in such high impact areas."

The Norton bill would create a loan forgiveness program for dental school graduates who agree to serve the poor and HIV/AIDS populations in areas where there is a high incidence of such cases, as defined by the Department of Health and Human Services. This program is similar to the nurse loan forgiveness program enacted by Congress in 1998. The crisis for the dental profession is even greater than for physicians, especially in underserved areas. Yet, dental school graduates incur an average loan debt of $100,000 at a time when fewer are entering the profession and even fewer are willing to serve HIV/AIDS patients.

The DDS HIV/AIDS Act is the latest effort of Congresswoman Norton to help quell the relentless spread of the disease in the District. Go to https://www.norton.house.gov/ for Norton's full introductory statement explaining the Act and its benefits to arresting the disease with this news release.