The AIDS Crisis in the United States: Will the Obama Administration Meet the Challenge?

by David Munar & Julie Davids
via RH Reality Check

On August 23rd, 2009, the first major HIV/AIDS gathering of the Obama Adminstration began, promising much debate and new data on approaches to HIV prevention. But critical questions loom over the meeting: Will the depth and breadth of the National HIV Prevention Conference in Atlanta and the first town meeting on the National HIV/AIDS Strategy be overshadowed by devastating cuts to prevention programs in a time of economic crisis, threats to health care reform and HIV care funding, and the lingering ghosts of the anti-science, anti-choice Bush years?

This week, RH Reality Check is partnering with the Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP), the HIV Prevention Justice Alliance, and AIDS Foundation of Chicago, among others, to cover the conference, and to raise issues about the domestic AIDS crisis.  We start here with an overview from Julie Davids and David Munar on the twin challenges of  re-inventing HIV prevention and  the need to bolster the pillars of a comprehensive approach to HIV and health care, both of which, the authors argue, must be embraced by the Federal government and its partners if we are to turn back the relentless pace of new infections in our nation.

Throughout the conference, correspondents from the HIV Prevention Justice Alliance will lay out the issues of the day and share the concerns and insights of people living with HIV and their allies. READ MORE on RH Reality Check