The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has pledged $68 million to the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program. The program provides low-income individuals with HIV primary medical care and funding programs across different cities, states, and local communities while reaching over 50% of Americans with diagnosed HIV.
According to the CDC, while everyone, regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, and race, is susceptible to HIV, the virus disproportionally affects Black, African American, and Hispanic/Latino people, making up an estimated 70% of HIV cases in 2022.
This comes from “social and structural issues such as HIV stigma, homophobia, discrimination, poverty, and limited access to high-quality healthcare.” Among the Black/African American population, Black women, queer men, and children are the most affected.
In a recent statement, Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA) Administrator Carole Johnson call the initiative “life-saving” and “culturally responsive.” Johnson also took the opportunity to shed light on the barriers many women, including pregnant and nursing mothers, face to accessing HIV care, including “stigma and lack of social support.”
In the Biden-Harris Administration’s official press release, they highlight the 142,000 women who received care from the Ryan White Program, which made up about a quarter of all recipients in 2022. The release states that 89.9% of these women reached viral suppression, meaning the virus is suppressed enough to prevent further sexual transmission. “The science is clear that ‘undetectable = untransmissable.’”
The program targets factors relative to the individual case such as access to food, transportation, housing, childcare, and the patient’s ability to maintain the consistent care they need. Bolstering this Ryan White Program is a step towards the Biden-Harris Administration and HRSA’s goals of tackling “maternal mortality and maternal health disparities.”
In 2021, the White House and the Office of National AIDS Policy developed the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS), which honors the lived experiences of all people. The NHAS is set to run until 2025 and aims to prevent new HIV infections, improve health-related outcomes for those diagnosed with HIV, and reduce HIV disparities. The strategy has identified five target populations: gay and bisexual men, Black women, transgender women, youth aged 13–24, and people who inject drugs.
The new pledge to the Ryan White Program showcases the NHAS and Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to tackling the epidemic and the populations most affected in America.
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