07/13/10

UNITED STATES:  White House Pitches New Plan for Fighting AIDS

This afternoon, President Obama will unveil a comprehensive national plan to reduce HIV incidence, increase access to care, optimize health outcomes for people with HIV, and reduce HIV-related health disparities. The strategy is accompanied by an implementation plan outlining specific steps to be taken by federal agencies, including CDC, in supporting these priorities.

"Our country is at a crossroads," Obama said in a letter introducing the report. "Right now, we are experiencing a domestic epidemic that demands renewed commitment, increased public attention and leadership."

To reduce new HIV infections, the strategy emphasizes targeting at-risk populations and communities. That focus will include gay and bisexual men of all races and ethnicities; people of color; Latinos; people struggling with addiction, including injection drug users; and people in geographic viral hot spots. The report calls for expanding targeted prevention initiatives using a combination of effective, evidence-based approaches, and for informing all Americans about HIV and its prevention.

By 2015, national objectives include: cutting annual HIV incidence by 25 percent; ensuring that 90 percent of those with HIV are aware of their infections; and linking 85 percent of new cases to clinical care within three months of diagnosis. The plan also calls for increasing the number of Ryan White clients with permanent housing from 434,000 (82 percent of clients) to 455,800 people (86 percent).

While improving access to prevention and care services for all Americans, the strategy sets measurable targets for reducing HIV disparities. By 2015, the proportion of HIV-diagnosed gay and bisexual men, blacks and Latinos with undetectable viral loads should be increased by 20 percent. The Bureau of Prisons will expand HIV screening of inmates, and the Justice Department will fast-track HIV discrimination cases, among other federal efforts to address disease-related stigma.

For more information, visit the White House Office of National AIDS Policy: www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/onap.

Source: Los Angeles Times:: Noam N. Levey; Courtesy of the CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention