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Office of National AIDS Policy Blog

  • National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day: Coming Together to Fight HIV/AIDS

    Posted by Jeffrey S. Crowley on February 7, 2011 at 6:05 PM EDT

    To commemorate National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, Senior Advisor to President Obama Valerie Jarrett shared her heart-felt thoughts on the importance of combating HIV/AIDS. Watch her video message:

    Download Video: mp4 (34.8MB)

    National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness is not just a day to increase awareness, but a day to act on your own health.

    • Do you know your status? If not, text your zipcode to 566948 (“KNOWIT”) to find and HIV testing site near you or go to HIVtest.org.
    • You can also call 1-800-CDC-INFORMATION for more information and testing sites in your area.
    • Visit www.aids.gov for Federal resources, events in your area and tools to commemorate National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.

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  • Institute of Medicine Issues Second Report on HIV Screening and Access to Care

    Posted by Chantelle Britton on January 31, 2011 at 3:54 PM EDT

    Today, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released the second report in a series that evaluates HIV testing policies and access to care. This report, which is entitled “HIV Screening and Access to Care: Exploring the Impact of Policies on Access to and Provision of HIV Care”, examines how Federal and State laws and policies and private health insurance policies affect entry into clinical care and the provision of continuous and sustained care for people with HIV. The report found that the lack of integration in State and Federal programs that assist people with HIV creates or exacerbates barriers to adequate HIV treatment. In addition, the report concludes that patients often experience medical and social difficulties as a result of their HIV status that, in turn, interfere with their HIV treatment.

    In 2009, the White House Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP) commissioned the IOM to convene a 15-member Committee on HIV Screening and Access to Care, which was tasked with planning and conducting a series of three workshops and activities that evaluate barriers to expanded HIV testing and treatment programs. The outcome of these efforts is the issuance of three reports that examine certain questions related to HIV testing policy and access to care. The Committee’s first report focused on the extent to which Federal and State laws and policies, private health insurance policies and practices, and other factors inhibit or promote expanded HIV testing. 

    The final forthcoming report in the series will focus on the current capacity of the health care system to administer a great number of HIV tests and to accommodate new HIV diagnoses.

    Last July, the President released the National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States that includes three primary goals of (1) reducing new HIV infections; (2) increasing access to care; and (3) reducing HIV-related health disparities. Of note, the goal of increasing access to care is tied to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, which will significantly expand access to care for people with HIV. This report highlights the opportunities within the Affordable Care Act to expand access, but also addresses the potential challenges we face with respect to ensuring services are coordinated and integrated to improve the quality of care for people with HIV.  As we work toward implementing the goals of the Strategy and the Affordable Care Act, we expect that the issues raised in the report will aid in our implementation efforts.

    To obtain a copy of today’s report or the first report released from the Committee, please visit the IOM website at www.IOM.edu.  

    Chantelle Britton is the Policy Advisor for the Office of National AIDS Policy

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  • ONAP Staff: It Gets Better

    Posted by Greg Millett on December 21, 2010 at 6:40 PM EDT

    Yesterday several White House staff posted a blog and video as part of the ‘It Gets Better ‘project.  ‘It Gets Better’ is a national campaign targeting LGBT youth that started in the wake of several high profile suicides.  The campaign encourages LGBT youth who may be the subject of discrimination, scorn or ostracization to look beyond their current circumstances and realize that that a bright future lies ahead.  ONAP Director Jeffrey Crowley and I both participated in the video.

     

    Resources

    If you’re a young person who’s been bullied or harassed by your peers, or you’re a parent or teacher who knows a young person being bullied or harassed, here are a few resources that can help you:

    The Trevor Project 

    The Trevor Project is determined to end suicide among LBGTQ youth by providing resources and a nationwide, 24 hour hotline.  If you are considering suicide or need help, call: 866-4-U-TREVOR (866-488-7386).

    BullyingInfo.org

    BullyingInfo.org is a project of the Interagency Working Group on Youth Programs (IWGYP) focused on providing tools and resources for youth, parents, teachers and mental health providers to prevent and address bullying. 

    It Gets Better Project

    President Obama's video and Vice President Biden’s video are just a couple of the thousands of videos submitted by people across the country to inspire and encourage LGBT youth who are struggling.  You can watch more videos at ItGetsBetterProject.com.

    For even more information and resources visit or call:

    Greg Millett is ONAP Senior Policy Advisor

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  • Moving Forward to Implement the National HIV/AIDS Strategy

    Posted by Jeffrey S. Crowley on December 10, 2010 at 11:27 AM EDT

    In July, the President released the National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States, the most comprehensive effort to-date to set national priorities for responding to the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic with quantitative metrics for measuring our progress.  At that time, he also released a Federal Implementation Plan identifying specific action steps for 2010 and 2011 and a Presidential memorandum to ensure ongoing actions are taken to fully implement the Strategy. The Presidential memorandum gave lead agencies (The Departments of Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Labor, and Veterans Affairs, along with the Social Security Administration) 150 days to deliver operational plans responsive to the implementation of the Strategy.  Additionally, he tasked the Departments of Defense and State and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission with developing reports providing recommendations and action steps to support implementation of the Strategy.  This week is the deadline for agencies to submit their plans and reports to the Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).  Given the high level of interest in this process and the strong momentum that we have sustained in developing the Strategy, I wanted to share the next steps of this process:

    In December, ONAP and OMB will review the submissions by the agencies.  In early January, we plan to re-convene the Federal Interagency Working Group which consists of high level HIV leaders from across the Federal government to collectively review the plans and continue to consider one of the Strategy’s key goals: improving coordination and collaboration across the Federal government. 

    In the New Year the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) will also meet and reviewing these plans will be on their agenda.  In addition, ONAP will develop a synthesis document for public release early in 2011 that pulls together key activities outlined in the individual agency plans. 

    My team in ONAP and our colleagues in OMB greatly appreciate the effort by all of the Federal agencies to be responsive to the National HIV/AIDS Strategy.  The Obama Administration is committed to providing strong Federal leadership to reinvigorate the national response to HIV/AIDS in order to reduce the number of new infections, increase access to care, and reduce HIV-related health disparities.  Our actions, however, are just one part of a broader effort that will be necessary to meet the Strategy’s ambitious goals.  Our hope is that State and local government commit to developing their own implementation plans, and advocates, businesses, faith communities and others take other actions to further the goals of the Strategy.

    This is a good week for all of us.  We are doing the hard work that will lead us toward the realization of the vision of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy in which the United States is a place where new HIV infections are rare and when they do occur, every person, regardless of age, gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or socio-economic circumstance, will have unfettered access to high quality, life-extending care, free from stigma and discrimination.

    Jeffrey S. Crowley is the Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy

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  • Commemorating World AIDS Day

    Posted by Jeffrey Crowley on December 1, 2010 at 9:30 AM EDT

    Download Video: mp4 (7MB) | mp3 (1MB)

    Today, Obama Administration officials and leaders in the AIDS community will speak at a World AIDS Day event at the White House to reflect on the lessons learned and the path forward in the fight against HIV and AIDS in the United States and around the world.  The White House World AIDS Day Event will include keynote remarks as well as a panel discussion with HIV/AIDS researchers and advocates and will be live streamed at 1:30 on www.whitehouse.gov/live. 

    World AIDS Day Ribbon at the White House

    A red ribbon is displayed on the North Portico of the White House, Nov. 30, 2010, in advance of World AIDS Day. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson) (Official White House Photo)

    Includes Video
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  • NIH-Funded Study Finds Daily Dose of Antiretroviral Drug Reduces Risk of HIV

    Posted by Jeffrey S. Crowley on November 23, 2010 at 6:40 PM EDT

    Today, the New England Journal of Medicine published research findings from the iPrEx study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation testing the efficacy of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).  The study is a major step forward in our ability to prevent new HIV infections.  The study found that a daily dose of an oral antiretroviral drug taken by HIV-negative gay and bisexual men and transgender women reduced the risk of acquiring HIV infection by 43.8 percent. The data showed even higher levels of protection from infection, up to 73 percent, among those participants who adhered most closely to the daily drug regimen.

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