14 July 2010
Obama Announces New National HIV/AIDS Strategy
Washington — It has been nearly 30 years since the first five cases of HIV/AIDS were documented in the United States, but since then activists, researchers, community leaders and policymakers have waged a constant battle against a disease that was surrounded by fear and misunderstanding, says President Obama.
HIV/AIDS was “a disease we were too slow to confront and too slow to turn back,” Obama said. “In the decades since — as epidemics have emerged in countries throughout Africa and around the globe — we’ve grown better equipped, as individuals and as nations, to fight this disease.”
The White House issued the National HIV/AIDS Strategy July 13 in Washington to address a disease that infects about 56,000 people each year in the United States, with more than 1.1 million Americans currently living with HIV. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that $30 million of a new federally managed prevention fund will be used to help implement the HIV/AIDS strategy.
The funding will support the development of improved methods of disease prevention and will also support improved surveillance, expanded and targeted testing and other related health support activities, she said.
“Our strategy calls for aggressive efforts to educate Americans about how dangerous this disease still is and the steps they can take to protect themselves and their loved ones,” Sebelius said during the White House announcement.
The National HIV/AIDS Strategy is the product of numerous discussions in 14 U.S. communities, and with more than 4,200 people, and from more than 1,000 recommendations sent to the White House from across the country. The strategy is based on addressing three goals — prevention, treatment and reducing health disparities.
The national strategy is similar to the Global Health Initiative, which is aimed at fighting HIV/AIDS and other diseases and health issues in other areas of the world, including Africa, where the disease has been especially harsh, Obama said. He said funding for that initiative has been increased.
But he added that funding alone is only part of the Global Initiative’s objectives. There is also the need to expand capacity in health care systems.
“For example, what are we doing in terms of creating public health systems and infrastructure in a place like South Africa so that the incidents of infection are reduced? We’re not just treating the disease itself, but we’re also doing a much better job in terms of general public health so that fewer people are getting infected in the first place,” Obama said.
Obama said it is a reorientation of thinking about how to address this global disease. Funding is essential and providing anti-retroviral medicines for treating the disease is critical to halting HIV/AIDS, but “we also want to build capacity at the same time.” It is a strong lesson learned from fighting the disease in the United States.
Through the Global Health Initiative (GHI) the United States will invest $63 billion over six years to help partner countries improve health care results through strengthened health systems. It builds on the original President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), begun during the administration of former President George W. Bush.
“Reducing new HIV infections, improving care for people living with HIV/AIDS, narrowing health disparities — these are the central goals of our national strategy,” Obama said. “They must be pursued hand in hand with our global public health strategy to roll back the pandemic beyond our borders.”
(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)
