President Barack Obama issued a “National

 

HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States” on July 13.

“Our country is at a crossroads,” Obama said. “Right

now, we are experiencing a domestic epidemic that demands

a renewed commitment, increased public attention

and leadership.”

The document states that one American becomes infected

with HIV every 9 1/2 minutes and that 600,000

Americans have died from AIDS.

But relatively few people seem to be alarmed by HIV

nowadays, the strategy says.

“In 1995, 44 percent of the general public indicated

that HIV/AIDS was the most urgent health problem facing

the nation, compared to only 6 percent in March 2009,” it

reports.

The report says that 56,000 Americans catch HIV

every year, and that that is expensive for the nation. It estimates

that 21 percent of HIV-positive people don’t know

they are positive.

The strategy’s main goals are to reduce the number

of infections, increase access to treatment, and reduce

“HIV-related health disparities.”

Gay white men make up the largest group of people

with HIV, followed by gay black men, straight black

women, gay Latino men, straight black men, straight

white women, straight Latino women, black male drug

users and black female drug users.

However, the rankings change dramatically when

each group is looked at relative to its size in the American

population.

Those numbers show that black female drug users are

most at risk of catching HIV, followed by black male drug

users and black men who have sex with men. The report

estimates that black gay men are five times more likely to

end up positive than white gay men.

“According to the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention, gay men comprise approximately 2 percent of

the U.S. population, but 53 percent of new infections,” the

document states. “Among gay men, white gay men constitute

the greatest number of new infections, but black and

Latino gay men are at disproportionate risk for infection.”

Near the end, the document calls on the federal government

to get more organized around AIDS.

“What has been missing and what is needed at this

time is an enhanced focus on coordinating our efforts

across federal agencies, across all levels of government,

with external partners, and throughout the health care

system,” it says.

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director

Rea Carey said Obama’s HIV/AIDS plan “is long

overdue, and implementation can’t happen fast enough.”

“This plan offers much-needed relief by focusing on

high-risk communities, directing money to states with the

highest need based on reported cases of HIV/AIDS, and by

recognizing the unique needs of affected populations,” she

said.

The Human Rights Campaign “praised” the strategy

“as a positive step forward in the fight against HIV and

AIDS nationwide, but called on the administration and

Congress to provide the leadership and resources necessary

to implement this important plan.”

Lambda Legal called the plan a “long overdue first

step.”