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New AIDS Strategy a Decade-Long Journey

By: Jesse Milan

This week, a decade-long journey for advocates of HIV/AIDS policy in the United States concluded and a new chapter in American history begins. Nine years ago, at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS, the United States voted along with all other nations impacted by HIV/AIDS to develop national plans for addressing the epidemic in their countries. Those of us who have been advocates for such a policy and those of us who served on federal advisory committees urged and requested that such a plan be developed, but none ...

World AIDS Day: A Time to Take Stock of Our Health

By: Jesse Milan

World AIDS Day has changed dramatically in the two decades since it began. When gay men in the U.S. first commemorated World AIDS Day, they did so by mourning thousands of loved ones lost to a deadly virus. Since then, highly effective HIV treatments have transformed HIV from a death sentence to a serious disease in wealthy countries like ours, and now World AIDS Day seems focused mainly on reminding the straight community about the global devastation of the disease. But the truth is that HIV is still a crisis for ...

“Viewpoints” | Creating a National AIDS Strategy With Impact

By: Chris Collins

The campaign to create a National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NAS) for the United States has been a remarkable success so far. Over the last 2 years, the concept has won support from hundreds of organizations and more than 1,000 individuals. They all endorsed a Call to Action demanding a more coordinated, accountable, and results-oriented response to AIDS in our country. President Obama has committed to developing an NAS with the primary goals of bringing down HIV incidence, increasing care access, and reducing health disparities. (1) The NAS has become the centerpiece of ...

“Decent Care” — The Key Values for Health Care Reform?

By: Jesse Milan, Janice Lynch Schuster

A recent World Health Organization (WHO) and Ford Foundation-sponsored Global Consultation on Decent Care Values in Palliative Care Services sought to bring together people living with HIV/AIDS, palliative care experts and specialists, and global health leaders to explore the conceptual alignment between the concepts of decent care and the practice of palliative care. The Consultation aimed to document how the values of decent care resonated with people worldwide and whether those values might influence new approaches to primary care and palliative care. Through its internal research and development program, Altarum Institute ...

Making the Business Case for HIV Workplace Partnerships

By: Jesse Milan

HIV is everyone’s business; whether we want it to be or not. Yet after 27 years of the pandemic, AIDS is still not everyone’s concern. Too many people who should know their HIV status still don’t. Too many people who should be in treatment and care still are not. And after 27 years, far too many businesses remain untapped fighters in the war against HIV/AIDS because they did not know they could be asked, they did not know they should be asked, and too many public health officials did not know ...