I’m very psyched about what POZ and AIDSmeds have been up to over the past year, building partnerships with AIDS advocacy groups. For instance, we’re working closely now with NAPWA, the National Association for People with AIDS. With our reach (the number of people living with HIV that read our magazine and websites), and their activists, we can leverage the voices of all us living with this virus.

Towards that end, we need your help to improve the main government program that affects our lives. The Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act is the largest federal program dedicated to providing care and treatment for people living with HIV. The CARE Act has been hugely successful in helping HIV-positive people live longer, healthier and productive lives, but Congress must take action on it this year if it is to continue serving more than half a million people every year in the United States.

POZ/AIDSmeds have joined with NAPWA and the American Psychological Association (APA) to ensure that important mental health services are well funded when the CARE Act is again reviewed by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives in 2009. We’re starting with a survey that will help guide our advocacy efforts.

Many people living with HIV have psychological difficulties, including depression and substance abuse. To ensure that our mental health needs are adequately addressed, we need your input. Your participation in this survey will not only help improve services you may need, it will also help thousands of others living with HIV.

You do not need to identify yourself in this survey and all of your responses will remain anonymous.

I just completed the survey myself, and it only took 7 minutes. Please join me by clicking the survey button below. Together, our voices will be heard.