President Biden’s Plan to Fight Against HIV/AIDS
After a 40-year struggle with the HIV/AIDS epidemic, President Biden recognized that more effort to fight against it needs to be done. On June 5, he released a statement acknowledging those who have fought the stigma and struggle of the virus. He also stated his funding plan toward ending the epidemic.
“In the decades since, more than 700,000 Americans and 32.7 million people worldwide have been lost to AIDS-related illnesses—a heartbreaking human toll that has disproportionately devastated LGBTQ+ communities, communities of color, and underserved and marginalized people around the world,” Biden says in the statement.
Currently, about 14 million people in the United States live with HIV/AIDS. Fourteen percent of these people do not know they carry the virus.
Since the mid-1980s, the number of those infected has decreased by two-thirds. However, new infections held a constant rate between 2014-2018.
Funding for HIV/AIDS prevention
Although this decrease is noteworthy, the prevalance still remains. Through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), Biden commits to preventing the spread of HIV and deaths from AIDS.
PEPFAR’s government initiatives will “aggressively reduce new HIV cases” with tactics such as “increasing access to treatment, expanding the use of preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP), and ensuring equitable access to services free from stigma and discrimination,” Biden says.
By July 16, 2021, votes on the Biden administration’s proposal for fiscal year 2022 will be complete. The proposal advocates for an extra $267 million toward the “Ending the HIV Epidemic” program. This would be a 40 percent increase from what the Trump administration gave in 2019.
Biden also declared at least $250 million will go toward the American Rescue Plan. This will address “the impacts of COVID-19 on our progress in the fight against HIV.”
On his website, Biden claims he intends to end HIV/AIDS by 2025. To do this, the goal is to reduce the rate of U.S. infections to less than 3,000 a year.
“Efforts to end HIV will help eradicate an infectious disease that we have been battling for the last 40 years and help correct racial and health inequities in our nation,” says Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+ Hepatitis Policy Institute.
