WASHINGTON — The Obama administration aims to reduce new HIV/AIDS cases by 25 percent in the next five years, the officials behind the new policy said Tuesday at the White House.
The new national HIV/AIDS strategy sets goals that are “aggressive but realistic,” said Jeffrey Crowley, the director of the Office of National AIDS Policy.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius outlined the strategy’s anticipated results beyond lowering new cases:
- increase healthcare access and health outcomes for those living with HIV
- reduce disparities of diagnosis due to sexuality and ethnicity
“We have a plan today that has ambitious vision,” Sebelius said. “The U.S. should be a place where HIV infections are rare and, when they do occur, every person, regardless of age, gender, race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or socio-economic circumstance will have unfettered access to high-quality, life-extending care, free from stigma and discrimination.”
Sebelius also announced that $30 million from the first wave of healthcare reform Affordable Care Act’s Prevention Fund will go to “new and existing efforts” in the implementation of the plan. The money will be used to support education, prevention and expanded and targeted testing.
“These goals aren’t new,” Sebelius said. “But the strategy for achieving them is new.”
President Barack Obama has been under fire from gay rights groups to announce a new HIV/AIDS policy. The administration has been working on the new plan for months, gathering public opinion and holding community forums.
Dr. Howard Koh, HHS assistant secretary for Health, said that the job of implementing the strategy isn’t one that falls to the U.S. government alone.
“Our success requires that the entire nation join together,” Koh said.
Recent reports by the Centers for Disease Control say, the HIV epidemic has claimed nearly 600,000 American lives and approximately 56,000 U.S. citizens become infected each year.