Hundreds Join Call for White House Summit of HIV-Positive Leaders
WASHINGTON (Dec 1)—For World AIDS Day, the Coalition for a National AIDS Strategy calls on President Barack Obama to publicly repudiate HIV-related stigma by welcoming community leaders living with HIV/AIDS to a White House summit on efforts to achieve his domestic HIV/AIDS agenda.
The Coalition made the request today in a letter to the President endorsed by 119 organizations and 155 individuals.
“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,” says the Coalition in its letter.
“Those charged with developing the National HIV/AIDS Strategy 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 past remarks, Obama has acknowledged the debilitating impact of stigma on the lives of those directly affected by the epidemic. Faced with prejudice and discrimination, people forsake needed HIV prevention, testing, and care services and face untold emotional, physical, and financial harm. With his words and actions, including a high-level public summit with HIV-positive leaders, the President could begin to confront nearly three decades of HIV-related bias and misinformation.
A recent POZ.com survey echoes the call for greater leadership against HIV stigma. A full 85% of survey respondents said President Obama and his Administration are not doing enough to combat stigma around HIV/AIDS. Another 78% mentioned that the HIV/AIDS community is itself not doing enough to combat stigma.
The Coalition for a National AIDS Strategy advocates for the development, implementation, and careful monitoring of a singular, comprehensive, and results-oriented federal plan against the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States.
Access the Coalition’s recent letter and list of endorsers here.
