The Generals in the U.S. HIV/AIDS Fight Speak Out: Invest More Now or Run the Risk of Losing the Battle
The nation's AIDS directors have sent a clear message to the U.S. government and public: Increase America’s investment in HIV prevention or run the risk of losing the war against HIV/AIDS in the U.S.
As stewards of more than half of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s $663 million domestic HIV prevention program budget, as well as the significant resources from their own jurisdictions, AIDS directors are responsible for implementing comprehensive HIV/AIDS response across the country. This unique role makes them leaders in the nation’s fight to end the epidemic.
AIDS directors recently released their vision for America’s prevention response, A New Blueprint for the Nation: Ending the Epidemic Through the Power of Prevention (pdf, 256k), and a companion policy agenda (pdf, 60k).
In the early days of the epidemic, successful state and local programs led to a 75 percent decrease in the rate of HIV transmission in the U.S. Despite steady erosion in funding and an increasing number of people capable of transmitting the virus, these programs have kept the epidemic stable for more than 15 years.
Unfortunately, the nation is reaching a tipping point at which the nation’s prevention response is being threatened.
“Each year, tens of thousands of opportunities are missed, despite our relentless efforts," said Sigga M. Jagne, Kentucky AIDS director and executive committee member of the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors. "As long as the nation remains apathetic to prevention, our potential to be victorious in this fight diminishes.”
To stave off the looming crisis, AIDS directors are ramping up their programs to meet existing and anticipated challenges and sustain progress to date. To achieve these goals, they offer three recommendations:
- Adequately fund the CDC prevention program at a minimum of $1.3 billion dollars annually.
- Invest realistically in services that work to prevent infection, including access to sterile injection equipment, research to develop new population-specific interventions, enhanced programs in correctional settings and abandonment of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs in favor of comprehensive sexuality education.
- Invest meaningfully in programs that support HIV prevention including STD treatment, substance abuse prevention and treatment, mental health services, housing and expanded research to identify an HIV vaccine and effective microbicides.
AIDS directors have called upon the federal government to make a commitment to end the epidemic in America and ensure leadership on the local level is fully supported and funded. In concluding the blueprint, they pledged their commitment to working toward an America without HIV/AIDS.
“We can never forget HIV disease is preventable," said Julie M. Scofield, executive director of NASTAD. "By building on the successes of the nation’s health department prevention programs - by far the most significant force we have in this fight - we can... turn the tide on the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic.”
From NASTAD, Nov. 27, 2007