It has already been one year since President Obama announced the implementation of a National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS). The strategy's long-term goals are to reduce incidences of HIV, improve access to health care and reduce health disparities across the country.
To check in and meter the progress of the strategy in its first year, the HIV Prevention Justice Alliance held a live webinar July 20 consisting of brief presentations from federal officials as well as leaders of some of the most prominent HIV/AIDS-related organizations in the country, including the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. Although there was some praise of the NHAS in year one, much of the dialogue focused on areas for improvement, especially if the strategy is to meet its goals for 2015.
Christopher Bates of the Department of Health and Human Services and Gregorio Millet from the Office of National AIDS Policy represented the federal government. Other speakers included Carole Treston, executive director for the AIDS Alliance of Children, Youth and Families; Venton Jones, senior program associate for the National Black Gay Men's Advocacy Coalition; Catharine Hannsens, executive director for the Center for HIV Law and Policy and David Ernesto Munar, president and CEO of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago.
One of the most emphasized points involved establishing better metrics for assessing the NHAS. Currently, the metrics are not entirely in place to efficiently measure progress at all HIV/AIDS service providers across the nation.
The 12 Cities Project is one way the government plans to assess the distribution and scale of federally funded HIV services and bring those practices to the state and local levels. Its launching marks one of the highlights of the first year, and Chicago is among the dozen cities included.
However, various webinar attendees expressed their concerns about certain populations with unique economic situations not being part of the 12 Cities Project, such as the Southeast. Munar said the project only represents 44 percent of the epidemic. Bates said the project is still in the early stages and no other cities would be added in the short term.
In terms of more pressing issues, Munar said the debt-ceiling negotiations and proposed cuts from the "Gang of Six" congressional conservatives threatens progress against HIV/AIDS and that it "could render the strategy and global AIDS commitment impossible to meet." Treston also emphasized this as a "real threat."
One avenue that nearly all speakers agreed needed to be explored is the engagement of allies outside the national HIV/AIDS advocacy community.
For more information from the webinar, visit www.preventionjustice.org .