September 21, 2007
A BETTER STRATEGERY
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Our next president needs some better-laid plans |
Since the Update reported on the National AIDS Strategy: Call to Action(nationalaidsstrategy.org) last month, more than 100 new organizations have signed on to the campaign to convince elected officials to create a comprehensive plan to address HIV/AIDS in the U.S. And right now organizers are trying to reach HIV/AIDS, antipoverty, human rights, civil rights and every other group that will be right on in recognizing the need to come up with a real plan and a real strategy to address the HIV/AIDS crisis in the U.S.
"Part of what we've had to do is educate people that domestic AIDS is still a crisis," said Rebecca Haag, executive director of AIDS Action, which is among the groups promoting NAS:CTA. "A lot of focus on the international crisis, which is of course important, but a lot of people—including candidates—aren't aware of the needs in the United States."
The chief goal of this campaign is to get candidates talking about domestic HIV/AIDS—and getting the next President to understand that a we need a plan to fight HIV/AIDS in the U.S., the same way we require a national plan from every country that receives funding from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
While Haag encourages candidates to learn specifics of domestic HIV/AIDS from groups like AIDSVote.org, NAS:CTA endorses the Open Society Institute's recently released Improving Outcomes: Blueprint for a National AIDS Plan for the United States , which outlines the major guidelines any national strategy will need to follow to be successful. They include:
- drafting comprehensive and measurable holistic HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention goals independent of "hot-button policy debates such as school-based sexuality curriculum" that arise around Ryan White funding cycles.
- limiting the number of goals related to fighting AIDS and setting and enforcing clear priorities for reaching those goals in different sectors of society.
- making the HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment needs of African-Americans a primary focus.
- making the federal government responsible for coordinating HIV/AIDS efforts among local and state governments, community organizations and business.
- requiring the Secretary of Health and Human Services to report regularly on the status of progress towards the plan's targets.
- involving multiple sectors— including government, business, civil rights groups, faith-based organizations, researchers and HIV-positive people—in developing the strategy.
Want to find out more about the Call to Action or sign on? Go to nationalaidsstrategy.org, where you can voice your support as an individual or organization.