Contact: Colleen Roche or Kim Serafin (212) 788-2958
Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani today attended the opening ceremonies of the 12th Annual AIDS Walk New York to show his support for the event participants and for the multitude of people living with AIDS around the world.
"I want to commend all the participants of AIDS Walk New York for working so tirelessly each year to give hope and encouragement to everyone suffering from this devastating disease," said Mayor Giuliani. "This year, with recent studies showing that New York City has seen a dramatic decrease in deaths from AIDS, there are even more reasons to be optimistic for all of us who have had family, friends and colleagues affected by AIDS."
Since its inception, AIDS Walk New York has raised more than $40 million to support the fight against AIDS. Last year's AIDS Walk drew the largest number of participants ever, as over 35,000 walkers raised more than $5 million to benefit the Gay Men's Health Crisis and other community-based AIDS groups.
Earlier this year the Mayor announced the results of a City Health Department (DOH) study that shows for the first time a dramatic 30% drop in the number of deaths from AIDS in New York City last year. Although the exact cause for the unprecedented decrease is unknown, it is likely due to several factors: The median survival time following diagnosis has increased from 13 months in the '80's to 19 months in the '90's. Access to medical care and services has improved greatly, especially since the City's share of Ryan White funding doubled from $44 million in 1993 to $100 million in 1994. There is far better medical treatment today of the infections that kill so many people with AIDS. And there are new and improved therapies for the treatment of the HIV infection itself.