ProrateNIH Op-Ed

ProrateNIH's national Op-Ed has been published nationally and one issue may be viewed in Southern California's "The Desert Sun" newspaper here: VIEW  It is titled "Disease Funding Should Reflect Number of Sufferers." The Desert Sun is a Gannett Newspaper representing the Coachella Valley and Riverside County, California.
 
2004 NIH Research Budget Published on Web
Gives Greater Urgency to the Need for Proration

The 2004 NIH anticipated budget for each disease has been released and the increases received by diseases are very small relative to past years. See the actual numbers for each disease here: nih.htm After factoring in increased expenses, the effect is a net decrease in NIH research allocations after five years of 15% annual increases. This makes the national call for proration of NIH research allocations to provide equitable distributions even more urgent. Daniel E. Smith, the American Cancer Society's national vice president for federal and state government relations addressed this issue in speaking to  amednews.com, the newspaper for American's physician's: "After several years of strong and consistent growth in cancer and other medical research funding, the administration's proposed 1.8% increase for the National Institutes of Health is effectively slamming the brakes on future progress." To see previous NIH Budgets, go here: http://www.proratenih.com/news_letter/2003_july_nihannualbudgets.htm

Newsletter Focus Disease: Alzheimer's Disease

• Alzheimer's is fatal: 53,679 died of Alzheimer's Disease in 2001. That is 6 times the number reported for AIDS

• Alzheimer's is serious: there is no medical treatment to cure or completely stop the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Three medications can temporarily mask the symptoms

• Alzheimer's Cost to Society: US society spends 100 Billion on Alzheimer's Disease. More than 7 out of 10 patients live at home because neither Medicare nor most private insurance plans cover long-term care

• Alzheimer's is Prevalent: There are four million Americans with Alzheimer's Disease as compared to 506,154 identified with AIDS.  As many as 10% of the people age 65 and older have Alzheimer's Disease, and nearly 50% of those over 85% have it. Some in their 30's and 40's also get Alzheimer's

• Alzheimer's caregivers: Studies on the Economic Value of Informal Caregiving in the U.S.,” indicates $196 billion a year is contributed to the U.S. health care system by an invisible health care sector — families and friends who provide care at home for the chronically ill. Alzheimer's caregiving is estimated to make up one-third of the total informal caregiving value or 68 Billion Dollars

• Alzheimer's Can Be Inherited: Having a parent or sibling with the disease increases an individual's chances of developing Alzheimer's

• Fairness? The NIH is spending only $161 on each patient with Alzheimer's  in research in 2003 versus $5,500 on each patient who has been identified as having AIDS

• Alzheimer's and all other diseases except HIV/AIDS would receive significantly larger research allocations under ProrateNIH's policy
  Alzheimer's statistics from the Alzheimer's Association
  http://www.alz.org/AboutAD/Myths.htm
  http://www.alz.org/AboutUs/History/Timeline.htm
  Fact Sheet in PDF format.
  The number of Americans identified with AIDS here: http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/stats/hasr1302/table1.htm

amfAR Acknowledges Significant Liver Disease
and Hepatitis C in AIDS Patient Deaths

The American Foundation for AIDS research,  amfAR, has acknowledged that "end-stage liver disease is now a leading cause of death among HIV-infected Americans." They continue,
".... hepatitis C and other liver-related conditions are contributing significantly to morbidity and mortality among people with HIV/AIDS." Indeed, Gregory Everson, MD, (Medical Director: Liver Transplantation at University of Colorado Health Services Center (UCHSC) agrees with many other esteemed physicians from throughout the country when he writes in his book ("Living With Hepatitis C, A Survivors Guide" co-authored with Hedy Weinberg) the following: "at UCHSC, deaths in AIDS patients due to liver disease surpassed deaths due to advanced HIV." ProrateNIH brings to your attention that the NIH is spending $5,500 on each patient that has been identified with AIDS and $25 on each patient with hepatitis C. See link here: http://www.amfar.org/cgi-bin/iowa/programs/education/record.html?record=196

ACT UP Disrupts ProrateNIH Founder Speech

At the recent March on DC for Hepatitis Awareness sponsored by the national Hepatitis  Movement for Awareness, Dr. Darling's speech was disrupted by AIDS activists. A video of the disruption can be seen by clicking here. See the ProrateNIH Press Release here:
2003 July Press Release

15 Billion for AIDS in Africa?

President George W. Bush's NIH budget proposal for America calls for funding the NIH research budget at $27.9 billion for fiscal 2004. The President signed legislation last month authorizing an additional $15 billion over five years for prevention and drugs (HAART) to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean. ProrateNIH strongly supports increased funding for preventative education and drugs to fight AIDS in Africa, but questions the propriety of the amount in comparison to the research dollars spent in the USA. We present these facts to help you in forming your opinion as to whether the Africa total should be reduced, the NIH USA total should be increased and/or the existing NIH budget should be prorated. ProrateNIH favors the latter two.
 

On a Telling Note........

Tax-exempt Status

ProrateNIH, Inc. has incorporated in the state of California and is presently in the process of preparing a filing as a tax-exempt organization.

Please help us in our efforts to gain fair and equitable NIH distributions for ALL diseases by joining here: JOIN
 

The FAIR Foundation Inc.
Dr. Richard Darling, DDS, Founder
P.O. Box 11991
Palm Desert, CA 92211
Ph: 760-200-2766
E-mail: Fair@dc.rr.com

Prorate Mission Statement: NIH research allocations shall be allocated based on a disease's mortality rate. If you have a disease that is killing the most Americans, it shall receive the largest allocation, if it is killing the second largest number, it shall receive the second largest research funding and so on. Secondary factors insure diseases with lower mortality rates but that produce great suffering shall also receive increased research funding.