Nine Steps for Stopping the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in the U.S.
In the almost 30 years of the epidemic, the United States has not had an national strategy to combat it at home—until this year. Marjorie Hill, CEO of Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the world’s first AIDS non-profit, gives high marks—an A-minus—to the Obama administration for its commitment to fighting the disease.
Below is a summary of the National Strategy Targets for 2015 set by the administration:
Reducing New HIV infections
• Lower the annual number of new infections by 25 percent (from 56,300 to 42,225).
• Reduce the HIV transmission rate, which is a measure of annual transmissions in relation to the number of people living with HIV, by 30 percent (from 5 persons infected per 100 people with HIV to 3.5 persons infected per 100 people with HIV).
• Increase from 79 percent to 90 percent the percentage of people living with HIV who know their serostatus (from 948,000 to 1,080,000 people).
Increasing Access to Care and Improving Health Outcomes for People Living with HIV
• Increase the proportion of newly diagnosed patients linked to clinical care within three months of their HIV diagnosis from 65% to 85% (from 26,824 to 35,078 people).
• Increase the proportion of Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program clients who are in continuous care (at least 2 visits for routine HIV medical care in 12 months at least 3 months apart) from 73 percent to 80 percent (or 237,924 people in continuous care to 260,739 people in continuous care).
• Increase the number of Ryan White clients with permanent housing from 82 percent to 86 percent (from 434,000 to 455,800 people). (This serves as a measurable proxy of our efforts to expand access to HUD and other housing supports to all needy people living with HIV.)
Reducing HIV-Related Health Disparities
While working to improve access to prevention and care services for all Americans,
• Increase the proportion of HIV diagnosed gay and bisexual men with undetectable viral load by 20 percent.
• Increase the proportion of HIV diagnosed Blacks with undetectable viral load by 20 percent.
• Increase the proportion of HIV diagnosed Latinos with undetectable viral load by 20 percent.
To read more about the U.S. National HIV/AIDS Strategy, click below:
