Building a National Strategy to End the Epidemic

HIV is a national epidemic, permeating every state, county, city and territory in the United States.  From Maine to Hawaii, in urban centers and rural areas, in the north and south, HIV can reach into every community.  It affects everyone, defying geographic, racial and cultural barriers.      

After nearly 27 years, it’s time to end the epidemic in the U.S. and demonstrate the leadership necessary to end this tragedy in the world.  The federal government must develop a well coordinated, evidence-based and outcomes-oriented response. AIDS Action is dedicated to working with the all sectors to build support for a national AIDS strategy.

Our Vision and Mission

AIDS Action vision is a world without AIDS.  We will work Until It’s Over—until no one acquires HIV, until those living with HIV have the care and services they need, and until a cure is found.

AIDS Action’s mission is to advocate on a national level for people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS and the organizations that serve them.

Our History

AIDS Action has been instrumental in the development and implementation of major public health policies that improve the quality of life for those living with HIV/AIDS and that ensures evidence based prevention programs to stop the spread of new infections.

In 1984, three years after the first reported AIDS cases, lawmakers remained silent as AIDS became national epidemic. Alarmed by the federal government’s lack of action, a handful of the nation’s community-based AIDS service organizations came together to create a united voice to educate and engage our elected officials. AIDS Action was created to forge a coordinated national response to AIDS and to ensure that our federal government responded.   Our successes have been many including the passage of the Ryan While Care Act in 1990 and its subsequent reauthorizations. See below for our more recent success.

AIDS Action’s Recent Successes:

• Passage of Legislation in 2006 to reauthorize the Ryan White CARE Act
• Support from major Democratic 2008 Presidential Candidates for a National AIDS Strategy
• Agreement in the U.S. House of Representatives for removing ban on local Washington, DC funding of syringe exchange programs
• Passage of Stop AIDS in Prison Act of 2007 by U.S. House of Representatives
• Passage of the U.S. Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Act of 2003

Our Agenda

After over two decades of public policy advocacy, the HIV community still faces many ongoing as well as new challenges.   In response, AIDS Action has adopted a strategic work agenda through 2010 that offers policy recommendations with the following objectives:


AIDS Action’s Policy Issues:

• Access to treatment and care for all  people living with HIV/AIDS
• Effective prevention interventions to reduce new infections.
• Continued U.S. global leadership to stop the spread of HIV infection and provide HIV treatment and care throughout the world.
• Effective standards for client data collection, reporting and retention that protects the privacy of people living with HIV/AIDS.
• Development of a comprehensive national AIDS strategy.
  

Our Approach

AIDS Action uses four main strategies in its national policy work:

Inform:  Using the expertise of its community-based member organizations, AIDS Action develops and disseminates policy positions that support the interests of all people affected by HIV and AIDS and keeps the community updated on federal policies and programs.

Connect:  AIDS Action seeks to bring together a diverse membership in order to create a strong network of organizations to focus on HIV/AIDS, which helps to ensure that the concerns of local communities are heard in Washington, DC. 

Advocate:  AIDS Action actively advocates policy and funding recommendations to Members of the United States Congress, Congressional and committee staff, the White House, and key Administration officials and agencies. 

Lead:   AIDS Action works to educate and inform the nation’s leaders of the Call to Action to develop and implement a National AIDS Strategy to end the epidemic.
        

www.nationalAIDSstrategy.org