For World AIDS Day, Urge Obama to Host First-Ever Summit of HIV-Positive Advocates

Community excitement around a National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) is building, but more work remains to ensure the plan is outcomes-oriented, bold, and well coordinated across multiple federal agencies and departments.  For these reasons, the Coalition for a National AIDS Strategy is calling on the Obama Administration to convene the first-ever White House Summit of HIV-Positive Advocates from across the U.S. to meet with federal officials drafting the NHAS.  Please review and endorse the letter below that will be delivered to the White House on December 1, 2009 for World AIDS Day.

COMMUNITY LETTER URGING THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO HOST
THE FIRST-EVER WHITE HOUSE SUMMIT OF PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS

Dear President Obama:

On behalf of the estimated 1.1 million people in the U.S. living with HIV/AIDS, we commend your Administration’s efforts pressing for tangible health improvements via comprehensive health reform and a National HIV/AIDS Strategy.  You have rightly identified HIV-related stigma and discrimination as a persistent social driver obfuscating greater progress to address the epidemic at home and abroad.  In addition, your Administration has recognized that, nearly 30 years into the epidemic, a renewed commitment is required to address present-day challenges driving HIV/AIDS in the U.S.

For these reasons we are writing to respectfully request a White House summit of HIV-positive community leaders from across the United States meeting with you and members of your Administration to discuss efforts begun to formulate the first-ever National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States.

For the President of the United States to publicly meet with a diversity of HIV-positive leaders would send a powerful message to the nation.  Such a summit would serve as a powerful, public denunciation of institutional- and individual-level stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS.  Beyond its symbolism, the summit would provide the White House a compelling opportunity to gather constituents and federal officials assisting the White House Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP) in drafting the Administration’s National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) to frame your expectations for this important process.

Those charged with developing the NHAS must hear directly from you, Mr. President, that the task of writing the nation’s first, unifying and integrative HIV/AIDS plan demands an outcomes-oriented approach that defies the typical institutional biases that too often stifle greater inter-agency and inter-departmental federal collaboration.  In addition, the Summit should underscore the urgency to tackle domestic HIV/AIDS as part of a renewed commitment to strengthen U.S. communities, slow healthcare expenditures and invest in the future of our people.

Your Administration has made a historic commitment to change the course of the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic.  We urge you to leverage the example of your leadership to change public attitudes toward people living with HIV/AIDS.  The White House forum on health reform, held on May 11, 2009, is a model for the type of public gathering we believe is warranted between people living with HIV/AIDS and officials working on the NHAS.   Challenging persistent HIV-related stigma in the U.S. is central to efforts to achieve the important goals you have set for the NHAS.

The Coalition for a National AIDS Strategy, together with the undersigned HIV-positive individuals and supporting institutions, look forward to working with you on these worthwhile endeavors.   On behalf of the Coalition, Naina Khanna and David Ernesto Munar will follow-up with ONAP officials regarding this request.

Thank you for your commitment to implement an effective and compassionate response to HIV/AIDS at home and abroad.

Sincerely,

AIDS Action Committee of MA
AIDS Foundation of Chicago
Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP)
Project Inform
Latino Commission on AIDS,
Women Organized to Respond to Life-threatening Disease (WORLD)

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Organizations and individuals are invited to endorse this letter by completing the form posted here.  Endorsements are requested by 3:00 p.m. ET on Monday, November 30 in order to issue the letter to the White House on December 1, 2009 for World AIDS Day.