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President Joe Biden commemorated World AIDS Day on Wednesday by renewing the U.S. government’s decades-long commitment to ending the HIV epidemic at home and around the world.
“We are within striking distance of eliminating HIV transmission,” Biden said during remarks at the White House.
In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic that has impacted every aspect of the HIV/AIDS response, from prevention to treatment to research, the United States is redoubling efforts to confront the HIV/AIDS epidemic and achieve equitable access to HIV prevention, care, and treatment in every community—particularly for communities of color, adolescent girls and young women, and the LGBTQI+ community.
Officials said the 98-page plan will re-energize the administration’s commitment to ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2030.
“It’s a plan to make sure that the latest advances in HIV prevention, diagnosis and treatment are available to everyone regardless of race, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability or other factors. It shouldn’t matter where you live in the country or how much you make,” Biden said.
A senior administration official told reporters that Biden “pledged to update and implement the nation’s comprehensive HIV/AIDS strategy to ‘aggressively reduce new HIV cases while increasing our access to treatment and eliminating inequitable access to medical and support services.'”
“The strategy gives us that framework for the directions and policies and also reflects President Biden’s commitment to accelerate and strengthen the national response to ending the HIV epidemic,” the official said.
“Forty years since the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officially reported the first cases of what later became known as AIDS, we mourn the loss of more than 36 million people—including 700,000 in the United States—who have died from AIDS-related illness,” a White House press release said. “We honor the nearly 38 million people living with HIV, including 1.2 million in the United States. And we celebrate the remarkable gains we have made together in battling this disease.”
