Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America was launched in February 2019. The timeline below features some highlights of the activities that have taken place since then.
Timeline Navigation
February, 2019
February 5: President Donald J. Trump announces his administration’s new initiative, Ending the Epidemic: A Plan for America, during his State of the Union address.
February 5: HHS Secretary Alex Azar shares additional details about the new plan in a blog post.
February 7: HHS leaders publish an editorial in the online edition of JAMA that provides details about Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan America.
February 28: CDC data confirm that progress in HIV prevention has stalled—demonstrating the critical need for the new plan.
March, 2019
March 5: Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), gives a plenary address about the plan at the 2019 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections.
March 11: HHS announces that Minority HIV/AIDS Fund resources will be used to support initial plan activities.
March 11: President Trump proposes $291 million in the FY2020 HHS budget to begin the multi-year initiative focused on ending the HIV epidemic in the U.S. by 2030.
March 13: HRSA hosts a webinar for its grantees on the agency’s role in implementing Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America. (Note: You must sign in before you can view the webinar.)
March 14-15: The Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) convenes and discusses the plan to end the HIV epidemic.
March 18: New CDC analysis indicates that the vast majority (about 80%) of new HIV infections in the U.S. in 2016 were transmitted from people who either did not know they had HIV or who were not receiving HIV care—highlighting the power of testing and treatment to end the HIV epidemic in the U.S.
March 18: CDC’s National HIV Prevention Conference (NHPC) opens with a plenary session on Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America.
March 19: HHS Secretary Alex Azar addresses NHPC about the plan.
May, 2019
May 9: HHS announces that Gilead Sciences has agreed to donate PrEP medication for up to 200,000 uninsured individuals each year for up to 11 years. This supports the plan’s objective to increase the number of people who have access to PrEP.
May 15: Getting to Zero Illinois launches the first stage of a plan to end the epidemic in Illinois by 2030. This plan shares a core foundation with Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America: increasing the number of people who are virally suppressed or on PrEP.
June, 2019
June 4: Dr. Fauci and Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), participate in a webinar on Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America. The event is hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies/Global Health Policy Center.
June 11: The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (Task Force) gives A-level recommendations for HIV screening and prevention. The Task Force states that clinicians should screen for HIV in adolescents, adults, and pregnant people and offer PrEP to people at high risk for HIV. These recommendations give strong support for the plan’s objectives related to HIV testing and prevention.
June 25: HRSA hosts its second webinar on the plan for all Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program recipients, partner organizations, and stakeholders.
June 27: The Trump administration awards $1 million in Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program grants to 10 metropolitan areas to provide technical assistance to strengthen efforts to end the HIV epidemic through improvements along the HIV care continuum.
June 27: IHS and the Cherokee Nation launch a new HIV pilot project to support Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America. The pilot will use $1.5 million in funding from the Minority HIV/AIDS Fund (MHAF) to begin implementing and evaluating key foundational activities that will accelerate progress toward ending the HIV epidemic in Indian Country.
July, 2019
July 3: HHS awards pilot funds to three jurisdictions to jumpstart activities to further reduce the number of new HIV transmissions. Each of the jurisdictions—DeKalb County, Georgia; Baltimore City, Maryland; and East Baton Rouge, Louisiana—receives $1.5 million from the MHAF for this purpose.
July 8: The Assistant Secretary for Health, ADM Brett Giroir, announces that a team of U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps officers will provide regional support for Ending the HIV Epidemic initiatives in Atlanta, Dallas, and Los Angeles. As part of the Corps’ Prevention through Active Community Engagement (PACE) program, the officers’ will develop health interventions to targeted communities.
July 9: Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS’s (PACHA) 64th meeting is held in Jackson, MS, focusing on Ending the HIV Epidemic in the southern states and among African Americans.
July 22: Researchers report findings of an NIH-funded study of strategies to identify and support men who have sex with men and transgender women with unsuppressed HIV. When “hardly reached” individuals were reached and connected to HIV treatment through concerted efforts, nearly half were virally suppressed by one year.
August, 2019
- August 2: HHS Secretary Alex Azar, CDC Director Robert Redfield, and White House Domestic Policy Council Director Joe Grogan meet with state and local health officials in Indianapolis, IN, about the work being done in Indiana to end the HIV epidemic, as part of ongoing efforts by HHS officials to visit the jurisdictions prioritized in Phase I of the initiative.
- August 14: The Health Resources and Services Administration's (HRSA) HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB) releases three Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs) to support the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program's role in Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America.
September, 2019
- September 5: NIH awards approximately $11.3 million to support implementation research collaborations with community partners in 43 of the 57 jurisdictions prioritized in Phase I of Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America.
September 5: Representatives from most of the 57 jurisdictions prioritized in Phase I of Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America gather for a full-day meeting with representatives from several U.S. Department of Health and Human Services agencies to discuss their plans to achieve the initiative’s goals.
September 5-8: The 2019 U.S. Conference on AIDS brings together people with HIV, health care providers, activists, federal leaders, and representatives of clinics and community-based organizations to discuss implementation of Ending the Epidemic: A Plan for America.
September 26: HHS appoints Harold J. Phillips as Senior HIV Advisor in the Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy (OIDP) and Chief Operating Officer of Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America. In this position, he oversees the coordination of the initiative’s activities across all of HHS’s operating divisions as they help jurisdictions make the best use of the science, data, and tools now available to end the HIV epidemic. He also ensures there is both community awareness and engagement in all EHE efforts.
October, 2019
- October 2: HHS awards $12 million to CDC-funded state and local health departments to support development of comprehensive Ending the HIV Epidemic plans that are tailored by and for each of the 57 communities prioritized in phase I of the initiative.
October 7: IHS awards $2.4 million to nine Tribal Epidemiology Centers to support implementation of EHE in Indian Country.
- October 16: HRSA notifies 182 eligible health centers in the 57 EHE jurisdiction of the opportunity to apply for supplemental funding to expand or initiate HIV prevention services in primary care.
October 21-22: The 65th meeting of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) is held in Miami, Florida, with a focus on HIV in the Latinx community and the response to HIV in Florida and Puerto Rico.
November, 2019
- November 29: Ahead of World AIDS Day 2019, President Donald J. Trump issues a presidential proclamation reaffirming the federal government’s commitment to controlling HIV as a public health threat and ending its devastating impact on families and communities worldwide. In addition, agencies and offices across the federal government release important information about their activities, including work related Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America.
December, 2019
- December 3: HHS launches Ready, Set, PrEP, a national program that makes medications for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), taken daily to prevent HIV, available at no cost to people without prescription drug insurance coverage. Ready, Set, PrEP is a key component of the Prevent pillar of the Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America initiative.
December 3: A new CDC Vital Signs report shows that progress in reducing new HIV infections in the United States has stalled in recent years. The report highlights the need for increased HIV testing, treatment, and prevention to end the HIV epidemic in the U.S.
- December 10: The HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health’s Office on Women’s Health announces the award of more than $3 million to community-level programs in Texas, Kentucky, and Louisiana through the Preventing HIV Infection in Women through Expanded Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Prevention, Screening, and Response Services initiative. The four funded programs are each located in one of the prioritized jurisdictions of the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative.
December 11: HRSA’s HIV/AIDS Bureau releases a new report showing that clients receiving Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) medical care were virally suppressed at a record level – 87.1 percent – in 2018. More than half of people with diagnosed HIV in the United States received services through HRSA’s RWHAP program in 2018.
January, 2020
January 24: CDC publishes Integrated HIV Programs for Health Departments to Support Ending the HIV Epidemic in the United States (CDC-RFA-PS20-2010), a major funding opportunity designed to advance the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative. Targeting the 57EHE Phase I jurisdictions, the five-year funding program will infuse those communities with the resources, technology, and expertise needed to strengthen HIV prevention and treatment. First-year awards are expected to total approximately $109 million.
February, 2020
February 10: President Donald J. Trump releases his Fiscal Year 2021 Federal Budget proposal. The 2021 Budget includes $716 million for the second year of the multiyear Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative, a $450 million increase compared to the 2020 enacted level.
February 10-11: The Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS holds its 66th full-Council meeting in Washington, D.C. The Council hears updates on EHE from the Assistant Secretary for Health and the Director of the HHS Office on Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy. In addition, the Council members review the progress of four pilot sites to jumpstart Ending the HIV Epidemic activities, hear perspectives about HIV stigma, consider the unique HIV-related needs of women, and hear about best practices and challenges in responding effectively to the HIV epidemic in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia.
February 26: HHS, through HRSA, awards approximately $117 million to expand access to HIV care, treatment, medication, and prevention services in EHE Phase I jurisdictions. This includes $54 million in Health Center Program awards to 195 health centers to identify at-risk individuals and engage in preventive services, test for HIV, and prescribe PrEP when appropriate, as well as $63 million to 60 Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program recipients to link people who are either newly diagnosed with HIV, or diagnosed but currently not in care, to essential HIV care, treatment, and support services, helping them reach viral suppression and reduce HIV transmission.
March, 2020
March 19: CDC adds new PrEP coverage data to AtlasPlus, its interactive data visualization tool. The data is available nationally, for states, and for all phase I Ending the HIV Epidemic jurisdictions. This information will assist jurisdictions in understanding the status of PrEP coverage in their area and implementing strategies to increase access to and use of PrEP.
March 27: HHS announces that beginning April 1, 2020, patients enrolled in the Ready, Set, PrEP program will fill their prescriptions for PrEP medication at no cost at their choice of Avita Pharmacy, CVS Health, Health Mart, Longs Pharmacy Solutions, Rite Aid, and Walgreens locations or by using one of these pharmacies’ mail order solutions. This represents about a third of all the pharmacies in the country, providing a valuable service to those using PrEP and resulting in substantial cost savings to the federal government.
April, 2020
April 28: HRSA’s HIV/AIDS Bureau announces five Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs) for initiatives on HIV stigma reduction, implementing rapid ART initiation, and improving care and treatment for Black women with HIV. All five NOFOs are supported by the Minority HIV/AIDS Fund and advance the goals of the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative.
May, 2020
May 11: HRSA’ Federal Office of Rural Health Policy FORHP issues a funding opportunity announcement under the Rural HIV/AIDS Planning Program to assist in the development of an integrated rural HIV health network for HIV care and treatment that will collaboratively plan to address key strategies identified in the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative.
May 18: HHS provides an implementation update on Ending the HIV Epidemic during NASTAD’s virtual annual meeting, emphasizing that during the coronavirus pandemic, the response to HIV and the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative remain Administration priorities.
June, 2020
June 16: Albertsons Companies and Walmart donate their pharmacy dispensing services to the Ready, Set, PrEP program, increasing the number of pharmacies participating in the program to expand access to HIV prevention medications.
July, 2020
July 6: EHE is highlighted at the 23rd International AIDS Conference (AIDS2020 Virtual). At the conference, HHS Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy hosts a satellite session, Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America: A Conversation, featuring a conversation between government and community about EHE implementation and the Ready, Set, PrEP program.
July 16: The HHS Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy hosts a stakeholder webinar on EHE implementation. Federal partners provide updates on agency activities and innovative efforts to prevent HIV infection and improve delivery of care.
July 31: CDC awards $109 million to 32 state and local health departments that represent the 57 EHE Phase 1 jurisdictions. The funding was awarded through CDC’s “Integrated HIV Program for Health Departments to Support Ending the HIV Epidemic in the United States” cooperative agreement and is part of a five-year funding program. Communities will use the funding to customize and implement high-impact HIV diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and response strategies, and to reduce local barriers to HIV prevention and care.
August, 2020
August 6: HHS announces a $4 million contract with TrialCard for one year with four one-year option years to continue to expand access to PrEP medications at no cost to eligible individuals without prescription drug coverage through Ready, Set, PrEP, a key component of EHE.
August 7: EHE implementation activities are highlighted across many sessions at the 2020 Ryan White National Conference. HIV.gov hosted a series of conversations about current and planned EHE activities to further the goals of the initiative.
August 17: HHS launches AHEAD: America’s HIV Epidemic Analysis Dashboard, a tool that provides national and jurisdictional data on the six EHE indicators, allowing national, state, and local stakeholders to track progress towards meeting EHE goals.
Learn more about the history of HIV in the U.S.—from the first reported cases in 1981 to the present—on HIV.gov’s A Timeline of HIV and AIDS.