Reflections on 2009 and Plans for 2010 for the Coalition for a National AIDS Strategy
What a difference a year makes.
At the start of 2009, AIDS advocates prepared briefing materials for the Obama transition team. Having supported a comprehensive global and domestic AIDS platform on the campaign trail, President Barack Obama inspired renewed hope for aggressive action against the pandemic.
Since Inauguration Day, the White House website has highlighted Mr. Obama’s commitment to a National HIV/AIDS Strategy designed to improve AIDS-related outcomes by reducing new HIV infections, increasing access to care for those living with HIV/AIDS, and tackling HIV-related health disparities. Members of the Coalition for a National AIDS Strategy’s Coordinating Committee met in early 2009 with the newly appointed Director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, Jeff Crowley, and other White House officials to provide input on this and other AIDS policy issues.
For proponents of a National AIDS Strategy, the new Administration’s pledge to develop and implement a coordinated, results-oriented AIDS action plan for the U.S. was the culmination of nearly two years of organizing. Launched in 2007, the Coalition for a National AIDS Strategy drew its inspiration from the Open Society Institute report Improving Outcomes: Blueprint for a National AIDS Plan for the U.S. More than 500 organizations and nearly 2,400 individuals have signed the Coalition’s “call to action” for National AIDS Strategy. In the lead-up to the 2008 election, the Coalition secured support for a National AIDS Strategy from nearly a dozen presidential candidates, including then-candidate Obama and Senator John McCain.
For the Coalition, 2009 was a year to build on past successes and recalibrate organizing efforts. With Mr. Crowley’s announcement that the White House would host 14 community discussions across the country to gather input on the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS), the Coalition began a process to shift its focus from campaigning for a national strategy to offering recommendations, assessing and monitoring White House activities on the strategy, and disseminating information about the planning process.
The Coalition’s Coordinating Committee invited a group of community stakeholders to a two-day meeting in September 2009 to help recalibrate and refine the coalition’s activities. Assembled participants developed substantive and process-related NHAS recommendations, which they shared with White House officials on the closing day of the meeting.
In fall 2009 and early 2010, independent groups of individuals and organizations put together consultations on the three goals of the NHAS plus a fourth consultation on research. The consultations are wholly independent meetings run by their own planning groups. The Coalition will ensure that recommendations from these consultations are posted on the Coalition website. We also invite other NHAS allies to share their recommendations and position papers on the Coalition’s website to help shape the best NHAS possible. Organizers of allied efforts can email materials they request be featured on the Coalition’s website to info@nationalaidsstrategy.org.
In October, amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, the Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP), and several other organizations held a consultation on HIV prevention recommendations for the NHAS held at John Hopkins University. A letter with recommendations to the President, based on the consultation, was signed by 34 meeting participants and shared with White House officials in December. In early 2010, consultation participants will draft and circulate additional HIV prevention recommendations based on input received from NHAS supporters.
In November, Project Inform, the HIV Medicine Association, the Treatment Action Group, amfAR, CHAMP, San Francisco AIDS Foundation, and others convened a consultation on research in Washington, DC. The meeting organizers will soon announce a process for community review and input on recommendations from this meeting.
In December, AIDS Foundation of Chicago with the Treatment Access Expansion Project, Project Inform, HIV Medicine Association, National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors, Bienstar, Legacy Community Health Center, and others hosted a consultation on care and treatment recommendations. The product of this meeting will be posted for stakeholder input in mid-January with a call for organizational endorsements to the final slate of recommendations planned for the end of January before the final letter is submitted to the White House in February.
The final consultation on HIV-related health disparities is planned for January, and is being led by Women Organized to Respond to Life-threatening Disease (WORLD), the Black AIDS Institute, Bienestar, AIDS Foundation of Chicago, and AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts. Draft recommendations emerging from this consultation will also be posted for broader community input before recommendations are finalized, endorsements are solicited, and the report is submitted to ONAP in February.
Please stay tuned to www.nationalaidsstrategy.org, for the latest news about the NHAS and Coalition activities. In the year ahead, community advocates, government officials, and other stakeholders must continue to work together to give shape to a results-oriented HIV/AIDS plan designed to advance efforts against the epidemic in the U.S.
