WASHINGTON, D.C. – At a World AIDS Day event at the White House, the Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP) released its latest report on the progress of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy. The report spotlights AIDS United’s Access to Care (A2C) work as a public-private partnership that is truly helping to advance the goals of the National Strategy.
As the world talks about “Ending AIDS,” success will depend upon programs that can effectively link and retain HIV-positive individuals in care. Not only can care and treatment extend lives, but an HIV-positive person who is on treatment and virally suppressed is much less likely to transmit the virus, which prevents new infections. Unfortunately, according to the CDC, less than 30 percent of all HIV-infected individuals in the U.S. were virally suppressed as of Nov. 2011. AIDS United’s A2C program, with the support of public-private partnerships, is making inroads in changing that.
“It is a great honor to have our work highlighted by ONAP as a model public-private partnership helping advance the National Strategy,” said AIDS United President and CEO Michael Kaplan. “But make no mistake; our work would not be possible without the investment of many generous partners.”
“Our A2C program is working with populations that often suffer some of the worst health outcomes, but through rigorously evaluated program models and expansive networks of care, we are delivering results that show improvements in linkage and care,” said Vignetta Charles, Ph.D., AIDS United Senior Vice President. “Over 4000 individuals have been enrolled in community-based programs under A2C. Nearly two-thirds of them are linked to care within 30 days of enrollment and three-quarters of them become actively engaged in maintaining their care. Outcomes like these are not only life-saving; but, as analysis from our partners at Johns Hopkins is showing, these programs are also cost-saving.”
To learn more about the A2C program and our 12 funded sites across the country, visit: http://www.aidsunited.org/strategic-grantmaking/access-to-care-a2c/. This innovative five-year program was made possible with a $2.2 million annual grant from the Social Innovation Fund of the Corporation for National and Community Service (public funds) matched annually by private investors. At the national level, private investors in this program over the past 12 months have included:
• Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS
• Levi Strauss Foundation
• Chevron Corporation
• MAC AIDS Fund
• Elton John AIDS Foundation
• Macy’s Foundation
• Ford Foundation
• OraSure Technologies Inc.
• Gilead Sciences, Inc.
• ViiV Healthcare
• H. van Ameringen Foundation
• Walgreens
• Janssen Therapeutics
