New US national AIDS strategy warns against complacency (2nd Roundup)

By Anindita Ramaswamy Jul 14, 2010, 1:49 GMT

Washington - Three decades into the AIDS epidemic, the White House on Tuesday unveiled the first comprehensive national HIV/AIDS strategy aimed at reducing the number of new infections and warning the United States against complacency.

The strategy's goal is to reduce the number of new infections by 25 per cent over the next five years, focus HIV prevention efforts among high-risk populations such as homosexuals and African- Americans, increase access to healthcare for people living with HIV, and reduce HIV-related health disparities.

'The goals are not necessarily new, but the strategy for achieving them is different,' said Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of health and human services.

'The strategy calls for aggressive efforts to educate Americans just how dangerous this disease still is and steps they can take to protect themselves and their loved ones.'

More than 1 million people in the United States are living with HIV, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). One in five people with HIV is unaware of his or her infection.

'Every new case is one case too many,' President Barack Obama said at a White House reception honouring HIV/AIDS activists.

He noted that in the decades since the virus emerged, 'we have grown better equipped as individuals and nations to fight this disease' and the world has learnt what is needed to stop the spread of HIV.

'The question is not whether we know what to do, but whether we will do it. Whether we will fulfill those obligations ... to confront a tragedy that is preventable,' Obama said.

The strategy outlines a plan by 2015 to increase from 79 per cent to 90 per cent the number of people living with HIV who know their status.

Despite increases in the total number of HIV-positive people in recent years, the annual number of new infections has remained relatively stable at an estimated 56,300 Americans.

African-Americans, 12 per cent of the population, face the most severe burden, accounting for 46 per cent of people living with HIV and 45 per cent of new infections each year.

According to the UN, there are an estimated 33.4 million people living with HIV globally, 2.7 million new infections and 2 million deaths annually.

Chris Collins, vice president of the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), said: 'We've neglected our domestic epidemic for many years. America is a leader in tackling global AIDS, but our response to the epidemic at home has been a patchwork of uncoordinated programmes that lack accountability for outcomes.'

In the new strategy, the Obama administration praised the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) - launched in 2003 in 15 countries, mainly in Africa, by former president George W Bush. It said the 'valuable lessons' PEPFAR provided about fighting HIV and scaling up efforts around the world can be applied to the domestic epidemic.

The US currently provides more than 19 billion dollars in annual funding for domestic HIV prevention, care and research. The strategy did not outline new money for AIDS programmes, noting 'constraints' on the federal budget.

The US invested nearly 19 billion dollars in PEPFAR - the single largest US foreign aid programme for health ever - from 2004-08, with an additional 6.6 billion dollars in 2009. Congress reauthorized PEPFAR in 2008, boosting funding to 48 billion dollars through 2013.

Many AIDS advocates are disappointed by what they call a 'laggard approach' by the Obama administration in combating AIDS nationally.

Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, said: 'This strategy is a day late and a dollar short - 15 months in the making, and the White House learned what people in the field have known for years. There is no funding, no 'how to,' no real leadership.'

The strategy also noted that 'the public's sense of urgency associated with combating the epidemic appears to be declining.'

One of the aims of the strategy is to get Americans to look at AIDS differently, while devising fresh ways of informing people about HIV.