AIDS Project Los Angeles Applauds Obama's National HIV/AIDS Strategy

Strategy promises to reduce new infections and expand care

Los Angeles, Calif., July 13, 2010 - AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) today offered strong support for the Obama Administration’s newly-introduced National HIV/AIDS Strategy, calling the plan a significant step in advancing the U.S. fight against AIDS.

"We congratulate the president and his staff at the Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP) for this achievement," said APLA Executive Director Craig E. Thompson. "We have been fighting AIDS in the U.S. for thirty years and finally we have a strategic coordinated plan to help bring the epidemic to an end."

The Strategy, unveiled at the White House today, enumerates a short list of major goals for the next five years, including: reducing the rate of new HIV infections, expanding access to care for all people living with HIV/AIDS, and ending the stigma and healthcare disparities that contribute to the epidemic.

The plan was crafted by the Director of ONAP, Jeff Crowley, in collaboration with a broad range of community organizations and government agencies, as well as significant input from people living with HIV/AIDS.

The Strategy does not call for increased funding, but instead indicates money will be redirected to areas with the greatest need and population groups at greatest risk, including gay and bisexual men and African-Americans. Gay men currently account for over half the new infections each year.

"We must have adequate, targeted resources to implement the plan," Thompson said. "Failure to achieve the goals set forth in the Strategy will cost us much more than what it will cost now to get the work done."

Currently, an estimated 1.1 million people are living with HIV/AIDS in the U.S. The Strategy calls for reducing the number of new infections in the U.S. by 25 percent (down from an estimated 56,000 new infections each year); for increasing the number of newly infected individuals linked to care within three months of diagnosis; and for reducing the number of people who are unaware of their HIV infection from the 21 to ten percent by 2015.

"The President today said the Strategy will one day make the United States a place where ‘new HIV infections are rare’ and ‘all people living with HIV/AIDS have access to high quality, life-extending care, free from stigma and discrimination,’" Thompson said. "APLA has been committed to that vision since 1982, and we believe the National AIDS Strategy will help make that vision a reality."

AIDS Project Los Angeles, one of the largest non-profit AIDS service organizations in the United States, provides bilingual direct services, prevention education and leadership on HIV/AIDS-related policy and legislation. With more than 25 years of service, APLA is a community-based, volunteer-supported organization with local, national and global reach. For more information, visit www.apla.org.