February 06, 2012

Dear Colleague,

As you continue to plan your HIV prevention work for the upcoming year, I want to provide you with an update on the HIV Prevention Leadership Summit (HPLS). After multiple discussions and considerations, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has elected to postpone the next HPLS until 2013.

HPLS is an important meeting for HIV prevention in the United States. We appreciate your leadership and support for HPLS and your ongoing commitment to ending the HIV epidemic. We are also mindful of the numerous conferences planned for 2012 and the economic hardships facing many of our funded organizations and other prevention partners.

Although CDC will not convene the HPLS this year, there are a number of meetings and events planned in 2012 that aim to further our collective HIV prevention efforts such as the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) and the US Conference on AIDS (USCA). Furthermore, this year is unique for HIV prevention because, for the first time in 22 years, the International AIDS Conference will be held in the United States in Washington, DC. We hope you are able to attend this historic event, which will present new scientific information, offer many opportunities for structured dialogue on the major issues facing HIV prevention and promises to be an exceptional opportunity for professional development and networking. Planning is also underway for CDC’s National HIV Prevention Conference (NHPC) in 2013 and we intend to convene HPLS as an adjunct meeting to NHPC to ease travel and logistics. We look forward to an ongoing dialogue with you throughout this planning process and will be sending you more information as decisions are finalized.

CDC is grateful for the work that health departments and community-based organizations, prevention planning groups, capacity-building assistance providers, other prevention partners, and advocates accomplish amid competing priorities and tightening budgets. We all must continue to make tough decisions in these uncertain economic times and we appreciate your resolve and commitment to ending the HIV epidemic in our lifetimes.

Thank you for your continued commitment to HIV prevention.

Sincerely,

/s/

Janet C. Cleveland, MS
Deputy Director for Prevention Programs
Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention