White House will facilitate community access to panel drafting National HIV/AIDS Strategy
The interagency federal panel that will draft the National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the U.S. will meet with community representatives, said Greg Millett of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP) at a recent meeting sponsored by the Coalition for a National AIDS Strategy.
The announcement is welcome news, as Jeff Crowley, ONAP director, has made clear that the interagency panel writing the nation’s first comprehensive HIV/AIDS plan would be comprised solely of officials from relevant federal agencies and departments. The Coalition for a National AIDS Strategy, which has advocated for a National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) since 2007, wrote Mr. Crowley earlier this year to urge the White House to create meaningful roles for community representatives to shape the plan. A coalition of women’s HIV/AIDS advocates also urged Crowley to make direct community involvement in shaping the plan a priority. While short of the request to include community members among the plan's drafters, news that the panel will meeting with community representatives is a new and positive development.
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Millett made the announcement at a community consultation hosted by the Coalition to develop recommendations on NHAS strategies to decrease HIV incidence rates in the U.S. Other NHAS goals include increasing the number of HIV-positive people who gain access to high-quality care services and reducing HIV-related health disparities in the U.S.
The interagency panel will be convened soon, said Millet, with the aim of meeting at least twice before the end of the calendar year. The process will likely involve committees for each of the three NHAS priorities and one overarching committee.
Millett reported that ONAP staff members have been conducting community discussions across the country to collect recommendations for the national HIV/AIDS plan. Emerging themes thus far has included
- elevating comprehensive sexuality education
- stronger coordination between and among federal and state agencies
- strategies to address HIV among transgender individuals
- housing as an intervention for health and HIV prevention
- efforts to mitigate persistent HIV-related stigma
- and improved HIV surveillance, among other topics
While sessions have included simultaneous sign language and Spanish translations, few monolingual Spanish speakers have participated thus far. Millett encouraged community members to reach out to Spanish-speaking stakeholders to join future meetings. In addition, he said that very few people have submitted comments through the Call to Action site on the ONAP webpage.
Community comments will be synthesized into a report to be released in mid-January.
ONAP has contracted with the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to analyze research regarding efforts to reach the undiagnosed and testing and treat strategies, Millett said. The IOM will investigate factors that inhibit HIV testing and access to care and explore ways to promote careers working on HIV/AIDS issues.
Finally, Millett said ONAP is exploring business partnerships to support the NHAS and will conduct special meetings on strategies to refocus efforts against the epidemic. Special meetings will include HIV-related issues facing youth, women, and men who have sex with men (MSM), and strategies to address HIV-related stigma. ONAP is also conducting a community conference call on rural issues.
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