Obama Administration to Unveil National Strategy to Reduce HIV Infections
EmailABC News’ Karen Travers reports:
The Obama administration plans to announce its national strategy Tuesday to reduce the annual number of HIV infections in the United States and improve health care for those currently living with HIV.
Every year approximately 56,000 people in the United States become infected with HIV and there are currently more than 1.1 million Americans living with HIV.
In a report released tonight, the White House outlines its plan to reduce the annual number of HIV infections by 25 percent with five years and increase the percentage (from 65 percent to 85 percent) of newly diagnosed patients who receive care within three months of their diagnosis.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius will unveil the strategy at the White House Tuesday afternoon along with Melody Barnes, the Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, and Jeffrey Crowley, director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy.
President Obama is scheduled to deliver remarks on the HIV plan at 5:50 p.m. at a White House reception to honor the work of the HIV/AIDS Community
That is meant to be a roadmap to guide coordinated efforts to combat the nation’s HIV epidemic, by bringing together state and local governments, business, faith communities, the science and medical communities, charities, education institutions and Americans living with HIV.
The White House said its Office of National AIDS Policy hosted 14 HIV/AIDS community discussions with thousands of Americans across the nation and took suggestions via its web site.
The Obama Administration’s plan centers around three main points: reducing the number of new HIV infections; increasing access to care and optimizing health outcomes for those living with HIV; and reducing HIV-related health disparities.
HIV/AIDS advocacy groups said there is no new federal money in this strategy — it is a redirecting of money that has already been allocated.
“We need to do a better job of scaling up interventions that work in populations that are most acutely affected,” said Chris Collins, vice president and director of public policy at the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR).
The strategy calls for allocating “limited resources” by “giving much more attention and resources” to populations that are at the highest risk for HIV infection. Those high-risk groups include gay men who account for 2 percent of the U.S. population but 53 percent of new HIV infections and black men and women, who represent only 13 percent of the nation’s population but account for 46 percent of people living with HIV, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Collins, whose organization has met with White House officials to consult on the new strategy, called it a “great start.”
“I’m very hopeful that this strategy is going to make an important difference in the domestic response to HIV/AIDS,” Collins told ABC News. “We’ve neglected for far too long and we haven’t been sufficiently coordinated, there hasn’t been accountability for better outcomes and we have the results to show for it.”
Collins said there were many important lessons to be learned from the United States’ response to the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief, a program started under former President George W. Bush.
Collins said that PEPFAR was “very much oriented around outcomes.”
“We need to move the domestic response to that kind of outcomes oriented effort,” he said, citing accountability, target setting and coordination as key elements that can make the domestic response more effective.
One advocacy group said it was “disappointed” by the Obama Administration’s pace on this issue.
Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), said there was “really no ‘there’ there.”
“This strategy is a day late and a dollar short: 15 months in the making, and the White House learned what people in the field have known for years,” Weinstein said. “There is no funding, no ‘how to,’ no real leadership.”
– Karen Travers
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“That is meant to be a roadmap to guide coordinated efforts to combat the nation’s HIV epidemic”
The US does not have an HIV epidemic. Good thing this administration never uses fear to get what they want!
Posted by: J.R. | July 13, 2010, 7:14 am 7:14 am
I’d love to see ANY kind of numbers to support the ‘epidemic’ they are talking about, any chance the Admin could actually support their assertion?
Also with no ‘new money’ and by working towards ‘fairness’ I’m concerned – when there is a disparity between two groups, call them the haves and the have-nots, there are exactly two ways to achieve parity: you either add more resources to serve the have nots (making everyone a ‘have’), or you reduce resources for the have to give the have-nots something (making everyone a have-some). This Admin feels we should be celebrating their decision to reduce care for some to benefit others?
And how, exactly, we this Admin accomplish a 25% reduction in AIDS/HIV infections? This isn’t a CBO analysis they can game, they have to do something, what will it be?
I suspect that annual AIDS/HIV infection rates have been declining since it’s peak two decades ago, so the ‘epidemic’ really seems dubious to me…
Is there any chance the Admin is trying to throw the Gay community a low-cost (actually a no-new-cost) bone in advance of the Nov elections? I wonder…
Posted by: N2vip | July 13, 2010, 8:11 am 8:11 am
Oh, and in round numbers, about how many people get NO treatment for three months once diagnosed with AIDS/HIV? I seriously find this hard to believe that this occurs with any real frequency in America today. I’d like some numbers to back up that claim – esp in light of the billions already spent on this disease and the 50-60K new cases each year…
Posted by: N2vip | July 13, 2010, 8:16 am 8:16 am
Maybe the admin. could consult with the girls from The View.
Posted by: Dontget818 | July 13, 2010, 8:18 am 8:18 am
“The US does not have an HIV epidemic. Good thing this administration never uses fear to get what they want!”
Well, Obama’s sheep WERE fooled by the swine flu fearmongering. How’d that turn out? Expensively, as expected. 40 million flu vaccine doses were recently destroyed at a cost of $260 million. Hundreds of millions more will be lost as more vaccine expires. But the vaccine makers did just fine with the billions of taxpayer money sent their way. Which of course was the intent all along.
Wonder why the mainstream media didn’t make a bigger deal about the fearmongering, incompetence, and waste of this administration. Could it be they contributed to it? Could it also be the case here? Hmmmm.
Posted by: Mary | July 13, 2010, 9:00 am 9:00 am
HIV- 1.1 million
Jobless- 15 million
Illegals- 20 million
The urgency (to change the subject) is crystal clear.
Posted by: smartlillena | July 13, 2010, 9:12 am 9:12 am
I find it sad that so many of ABC’s readers are so poorly informed. HIV is an epidemic, growing at 56,000 people per year. 14,000 people still die of AIDS every year, a number which is far less than in previous decades due to life-saving drugs. But these drugs are expensive. Safety net programs in this country allow people who make less per year than the drugs themselves cost to have access to them. This allows them to remain healthy and continue to work at their minimum wage jobs. Furthermore, most of these programs are vastly populated by minorities, so this isn’t just about gays, it’s significantly an issue plaguing poor black and latino communities. It’s a shame that ABC readers are content to allow AIDS to grow like the bubonic plague. This is America and we’re living in the 21st century, together, we can overcome even the greatest problems.
Posted by: Informant | July 13, 2010, 11:23 am 11:23 am
we can overcome even the greatest problems.
—
We’re getting around to one of ‘em. Just a few more months.
Posted by: smartlillena | July 13, 2010, 11:46 am 11:46 am
“I find it sad that so many of ABC’s readers are so poorly informed. HIV is an epidemic, growing at 56,000 people per year. 14,000 people still die of AIDS every year, a number which is far less than in previous decades due to life-saving drugs.”
It’s liberals who are poorly informed. This is not the plague we’re talking about. Except for tainted blood transfusions, nearly all HIV infections are PREVENTABLE because they’re linked to BEHAVIOR. Much of it is caused by substance abuse and risky sexual behavior. Explain to us why taxpayers who are not engaging in this behavior should be made to pay for the rest of the fools who are.
Did you notice that preventing the causes of HIV/AIDS wasn’t even addressed? Why is that? Because he’s pandering to get votes. What a shock!
Posted by: Mary | July 13, 2010, 1:39 pm 1:39 pm
Mary, this is an epidemic that can affect anyone. Yes risky behavior is an important part of the equation, but that is not the only risk factor. 1 in 35 black women are at risk of contracting HIV, while 1 in 50,000 white women are at the same risk. White women engage in plenty of risky behavior, including drug use and sex. But many of these communities have received more resources for a longer time to prevent and educate against these risk factors. It sounds like you’d condemn those without the resources to deal with this problem on the same level that other more advantaged groups have simply because your risky behavior has less risk than others. Very few people, especially in the younger demographics, engage in wholly unrisky behavior. While we must educate and prevent against more infections, WE ARE NOT PROVIDING THE RESOURCES to close the disparities on this issue. Furthermore, for those who engage in risky behavior and do become infected, it behooves us to take care of our fellow Americans. You may not believe so, but that says more about you than those in the HIV/AIDS community.
Posted by: Informant | July 13, 2010, 2:22 pm 2:22 pm
“Furthermore, for those who engage in risky behavior and do become infected, it behooves us to take care of our fellow Americans. You may not believe so, but that says more about you than those in the HIV/AIDS community.”
America is $13 TRILLION in debt. We’re broke and there are 26 million who are jobless or underemployed. We have higher priorities.
Millions of us taxpayers are sick and tired of paying for the fallout of others’ irresponsible behavior, especially during a deep recession. Nothing prevents you and others who feel the way you do to be generous with your own money.
Posted by: Mary | July 13, 2010, 3:15 pm 3:15 pm
“I am having a hard time figuring out whether you simply abhor people with AIDS, or you just don’t understand the problem.”
I abhor reckless behavior. And I’m tired of paying for it. If you believe so strongly in the cause, then put your time and money where your mouth is. I do for a wide variety of causes supporting cures for non-preventable diseases.
In any case, why is this even an issue? ObamaCare is here. You can get all the care you need for free!!
Posted by: Mary | July 13, 2010, 3:42 pm 3:42 pm
Caring for people in need is not what has propelled us into debt, Mary. While there are many factors, the Dept. of Defense still enjoys 70% of federal contracting budget even under Obama.
It is not asking to much for our government to have multiple priorities at once. In fact, unemployment is one of the driving factors behind the need for more HIV+ individuals to need government assistance. They lost their health insurance with their job. Furthermore, waiting for individuals to develop AIDS is far more costly to the American tax payer because when we allow health HIV positive individuals to become sick with AIDS, who then incur lengthy and costly hospital stays, we are still footing the bill since AIDS qualifies them for Medicaid (HIV does not). Treating someone with AIDS is 2.6 times more expensive than treating a healthy individual with HIV… you do the math.
I’m having a hard time figuring out if you simply don’t understand the problem, or don’t care to.
Posted by: Informant | July 13, 2010, 3:45 pm 3:45 pm
So you don’t understand the problem, nor do you care to.
Posted by: Informant | July 13, 2010, 3:48 pm 3:48 pm
It is difficult for me to understand why AIDS should be given preferential treatment. Which is worse: not doing anything, or taking credit for doing something, and not doing anything?
Posted by: dgr | July 13, 2010, 7:29 pm 7:29 pm
From the definition of epidemic:
adj: extremely prevalent; widespread.
noun: a rapid spread or increase in the occurrence of something
From the article: Every year approximately 56,000 people in the United States become infected with HIV and there are currently more than 1.1 million Americans living with HIV
U.S. population: >306 million
From Informant: HIV is an epidemic, growing at 56,000 people per year.
From cancer.org: Over 560 thousand people died from cancer last year. There were roughly 1.5 million new cases.
Conclusion: HIV is no epidemic, Informant fail.
Posted by: J.R. | July 14, 2010, 9:58 am 9:58 am
That is really cute, JR. Use an oversimplified definition to prove what again? For those of use who have a little schooling, we know that an epidemic is based on a disease that substantially exceeds what is expected of that disease. How fast would you expect HIV to grow? One person every 9 minutes is infected with HIV, you don’t have to call that an epidemic, you can call it a persistent plague, or whatever else. Semantics aside, this is a serious issue that seriously needs to be addressed. I fail to understand how so many people have so much disgust for the HIV/AIDS population, a diverse group of people of all ages, races, and regions of the country. Perhaps AIDS are just statistics to you, JR, perhaps they’re just numbers and not real people with real families. I can’t imagine you’d feel the same way if someone you loved has HIV.
Posted by: Informant | July 14, 2010, 11:15 am 11:15 am