Demands

Click here to view a specific list of policies and regulations the next president will need to address.

President Barack Obama must create a national AIDS strategy including:

1. Providing treatment and care for all people with HIV in the US. In the US, thousands of people are going without care and treatment for HIV. It is shameful, especially for the richest country in the world, to let people die without treatment. And critical care and support programs, like translation and transportation, are getting cut across the board. The US needs one standard for everyone, including those in territories like Puerto Rico, which guarantees access for all people with HIV to treatment and care programs. And these policies must be part of a plan to provide quality affordable health care for all people. People with HIV must be part of the plan to end AIDS.
2. Ensuring housing is available to all people with HIV. Researchers have concluded that stable housing is critical for all people, but especially for people with HIV. People are more adherent to medication, more likely to eat well and sleep enough, and are all-around more healthy when they have a stable home. Sadly, the US has shortchanged AIDS housing programs, and denied people with HIV who do not have a clinical AIDS diagnosis from accessing AIDS housing. This must change with the next administration – we must make housing a priority. Homeless people must be part of the plan to end AIDS.
3. Advancing HIV prevention justice. A strategic and comprehensive plan for HIV prevention must end the drastic underfunding of prevention programs, support community programs to expand and innovate effective prevention interventions, and invest in research to close our knowledge gaps. We must lift the ban that prohibits the use of federal funds for syringe exchange programs, which reduce HIV transmission in injection drug users without increasing drug use. Young people have a right to medically accurate, evidence-based information to protect their sexual health, and funds going to ineffective abstinence-only programs should be re-directed to comprehensive sexuality education. Public health programs and government policies must confront anti-gay bias and violence, in order to end homophobic practices that increase vulnerability to HIV among gay and bisexual men of all races,  and must address gender bias and violence against women and transpeople. Gay men of color, women, drug users, youth, sex workers and trans people must be part of the plan to end AIDS.
4. Reforming the US Global AIDS Plan. This past year, Congress reauthorized the US Global AIDS plan for another five years. They committed to $48 billion during that time to address AIDS, TB and malaria. But the plan does not include a specific number of people who will be treated, and prioritizes funding for ineffective abstinence and faithfulness programs over comprehensive sex education. The US Global AIDS Plan must set a firm treatment target, support generic medication, and fund evidence-based HIV prevention programs. Millions of people all over the world must be part of the plan to end AIDS.