A survey released last week by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation finds that more than one in four Americans (26 percent) think AIDS is the most urgent health problem facing the U.S., second only to cancer (35 percent). In addition, 37 percent of those surveyed named HIV/AIDS as the most urgent international health problem, ranking it number one among all global health issues.

The survey, The AIDS Epidemic At 20 Years: The View From America, found that 43 percent of those surveyed said they knew someone who was either living with HIV/AIDS or had died of AIDS, while 37 percent said they were personally concerned about becoming infected. Almost half of those surveyed (49 percent) thought HIV/AIDS was a more pressing problem for the nation today than it was a few years ago.

The study also found that Americans support U.S. assistance to Africa, home to the majority of adults and children living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, with two-thirds (66 percent) of those surveyed supporting U.S. spending on AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa.

"While the public supports federal spending on HIV/AIDS, AIDS policies will have to compete with other priorities for a seat at the budget table," said Kaiser Family Foundation president Drew Altman, Ph.D. "Polls consistently show that other issues -- such as education, health care and Medicare, social security, and a tax cut -- top the public's priority list for federal dollars."

To download a complete copy of the survey results, visit: http://www.kff.org/content/2001/3026/aids20_rpt.pdf