Advocates Recommend Key Components of an Effective HIV/AIDS Strategy

What should be the core components of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) and how should the document and its rollout be structured to have maximum impact in the fight against HIV/AIDS?

These were some of the questions contemplated by a small, independent work group. The framework document that resulted from these discussions was shared with White House Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP) officials, President's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) members, and federal Interagency Working Group participants developing the NHAS.

The group's paper calls for a Strategy that addresses structural vulnerabilities to HIV/AIDS and moves beyond the status quo in order to improve HIV-related outcomes in the U.S. The paper advances four fundamental recommendations for development of an effective and outcomes-oriented Strategy:

1. Set a few ambitious, achievable targets
2. Improve federal management to achieve a more coordinated, accountable response
3. Identify high-yield activities and promote strategic allocation of resources
4. Prepare for implementation

The paper identifies the need for new resources, but also urges better targeting of resources, new approaches, and other reforms to use current and new financing more effectively.

The paper additionally models what the trajectory of the epidemic might be if specific suggested targets are met, compared with anticipated growth in incidence and prevalence without progress toward targets. This modeling exercise is another example of the type of planning needed for an effective Strategy.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.


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