In honor of this Worlds AIDS Day, AIDS United alongside 57 advocacy organizations sent a letter to the Biden administration thanking them for the gains they have made in pursuit of achieving the goals of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy over the past four years and urging the next Administration to prioritize efforts to end the HIV epidemic and increase the quality of life for all people living with HIV in this country.
In the past four years, we have seen this administration reestablish the Office of National AIDS Policy, host the 7th Replenishment of the Global Fund, champion the creation of a National PrEP Program, and fight to protect the rights and access to healthcare of LGBTQ+ individuals. We are grateful for the Biden Administration’s consistent support of the needs of people living with and affected by HIV.
As we face the real threat of drastic funding cuts in Fiscal Year 2025 Appropriations process, we hope that our elected leaders in Washington, DC take this World AIDS Day as an opportunity to reaffirm their commitment to ending the epidemic and to do so in the spirit of collaboration and bipartisanship that has been a hallmark of the federal HIV response since the creation of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program more than 30 years ago.
In our letter, we urged the Biden Administration to reinforce the importance of programs like the Ending the HIV Epidemic Initiative, which was created during the first Trump Administration, uplifted by President Biden, and which we hope will be further championed during President-Elect Trump’s second term. We also call on the current and incoming administrations to elevate the need for increased support for the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a program which has saved over 25 million lives across the world, and which has been a pillar of our nation’s global public health and foreign policy response across both Republican and Democratic administrations.
This Worlds AIDS Day is an opportunity to reflect on the progress the HIV community has made in our efforts to end the HIV epidemic and increase the quality of life for all people living with and impacted by HIV. It is also an occasion for us recharge and steel ourselves for the task ahead as we continue to do our vital work in a shifting political environment. As we transition to a new administration and a new Congress, we will continue to push for increased federal commitments to ending the HIV epidemic in the United States and across the globe and will work diligently with our federal partners to ensure that the goals of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy are met.
Read the full World AIDS Day Letter to the Biden administration here.
