Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS
The Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) was a commission formed by then-President Bill Clinton in 1995 to provide recommendations on the U.S. government's response to the AIDS epidemic. President George W. Bush and Secretary Tommy G. Thompson renewed the Council´s charter on July 19, 2001.
History
The Council was not the first Presidential inquiry into the HIV virus. In 1987, Ronald Reagan appointed the President's Commission on the HIV Epidemic (Watkins Commission) to investigate the AIDS epidemic.
Members
The council is now cochaired by:
- Thomas A. Coburn, M.D. - an obstetrician and former Republican congressman from Oklahoma who gained a national reputation for his opposition to safer sex as a way to prevent HIV infections.
- Louis W. Sullivan, M.D. - President's Office, Morehouse School of Medicine, Sullivan was the Secretary of Health and Human Services during the George H. W. Bush administration
The other members are:
- Rosa M. Biaggi, M.P.H., M.P.A - Connecticut Department of Public Health
- Jacqueline S. Clements - Lincoln Community Health Center. Clements is a HIV testing counselor in rural North Carolina who is living with HIV and lost her husband and child to AIDS.
- Mildred Freeman - Director, Health Education Division, National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education
- John F. Galbraith - President and CEO, Catholic Medical Mission Board
- Edward C. Green, Ph.D. - Senior Research Scientist, Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies
- David Greer - A marketing and communications consultant in Philadelphia. He is living with HIV.
- Cheryl-Anne Hall
- Jane Hu, Ph.D. - CEO & Founder, China Foundation, a philanthropic think tank
- Karen Ivantic-Doucette, M.S.N, FNP, ACRN - Marquette University College of Nursing
- Rashida Jolley
- Franklyn N. Judson, M.D. - Professor and Director, Denver Public Health Department
- Abner Mason - Executive Director, AIDS Responsibility Project
- Sandra S. McDonald - President/Founder, OUTREACH, Inc
- Joe S. McIlhaney, M.D.
- Henry McKinnell, Jr., Ph.D. - Chairman & CEO Pfizer Inc
- Brent Tucker Minor - Co-chair of the Ryan White Planning Council. He is living with HIV.
- Jose A. Montero, M.D. - Associate Professor of Medicine, University of South Florida
- Dandrick Moton - Director, Community and Youth Relations, Choosing to Excel
- Beny Primm, MD - The Addiction Research and Treatment Corp.
- David Reznik, D.D.S. - Chief, Dental Service, Grady Health System. Reznik is an expert in oral health care for people living with HIV, and serves on the Ryan White Planning Council of Metropolitan Atlanta.
- Debbie Rock - Executive Director, Baltimore Pediatric HIV Program, Inc
- Reverend Edwin Sanders II - Senior Servant, Metropolitan Interdenominational Church
- Prem Sharma, D.D.S., M.S. - Associate Dean Emeritus, Marquette School of Dentistry
- Lisa Mai Shoemaker - HIV/AIDS Activist/Motivational Speaker
- Anita Smith - Children´s AIDS Fund
- Don Sneed - Executive Director, Renaissance III, a non-profit organization providing AIDS-related services in south Texas. Sneed is a former addict, and is living with HIV.
- M. Monica Sweeney, M.D., M.P.H. - Assistant Clinical Professor of Preventive Medicine, SUNY Health Science Center of Brooklyn
- Ram Yogev, MD - Professor of Pediatrics, Northwestern University Medical School
Criticism
Critics have stated a lack of confidence in the PACHA and note that the Council, as reorganized under President Bush, held only two meetings in 2002 and issued only five recommendations to the White House. By comparison, the Watkins Commission submitted 597 recommendations to the Reagan Administration.
The Union of Concerned Scientists released a report in February, 2004 entitled Scientific Integrity in Policymaking claiming, among other accusations, that President Bush intentionally appointed under-qualified individuals to the PACHA as part of a massive effort to manipulate the government's scientific advisory system to prevent the appearance of expert advice while controlling the advice given.
An example of such a questioned PACHA appointment is Dr. Joseph McIlhaney, a Texas-based doctor known for his published beliefs rejecting the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, and his continued advocacy of abstinence-only programs despite negligible evidence that they actually reduce pregnancy rates among young people.