Other News In 2012
2012
Care is Prevention
The future has never looked brighter for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in the United States. New data underscores one simple and empowering fact: when patients are on antiretroviral therapy (ART) they are less infectious. This means that by getting more and more people tested and adhering to ART we can dramatically reduce the number of new HIV infections. Like a drop of water creating ever expanding ripples, each new patient treated means dozens others escaping infection. Increasingly HIV care is becoming HIV prevention.
New research tells us that “test and treat” can work. A study conducted in 13 locations across Africa revealed that ART treatment reduces transmissibility by 96 percent.1 Studies also point out an important tenant to making care prevention: getting people into treatment as early as possible, even when their immune systems are still relatively healthy.1
This means guiding more new patients as fast as possible into the “HIV treatment cascade” including: testing for HIV; engaging in care; CD4 testing; ART treatment; and, finally, full adherence. However, there is much work to be done.
- Engagement in care. Nearly one in five people infected with HIV are unaware of their positive status.
- Retention in care. Only 37 percent of people with HIV in the United States are routinely engaged in HIV primary care.
- Treatment adherence. Only 25 percent of HIV-infected persons in the United States are estimated to have a suppressed viral load.2
These new revelations have enormous potential to change the landscape of the HIV/AIDS epidemic—and our way of addressing it. HRSA, through the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, is once again leading the way. One major milestone has been the recent launch of the in+care Campaign. HRSA, in collaboration with the National Quality Center, has enlisted 465 Ryan White providers, serving 445,429 patients in what’s become the largest HIV-specific virtual health campaign in the country. The goal is to engage and retain patients into care and to constantly evaluate and improve the methods that providers use to do so. By giving grantees and providers from all across the country a forum to share best practices, successes, and data, the Campaign raises the bar and improves the health of PLWHA.
HRSA has also been at the forefront of implementing the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, through the in+care Campaign, through pilot projects and training manuals, through a HRSA CAREAction newsletter devoted to retention and best practices, and through our work at the Federal, State, and local levels. With the continued commitment of so many good people and the help of cutting edge strategies, increasing prevention of HIV infection through HIV care is no longer a dream. It is a reality.
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Toward Passage - 1986
HRSA Debuts First
AIDS Program - 1987
AZT Reimbursement
Program Launches - 1988
Pediatric AIDS
Grants Begins - 1989
HRSA Funds Move
Outside Epicenters - 1990
CARE Act Is Adopted,
Named for Indiana Teen -
The Early Years - 1991
HRSA Awards First
CARE Act Grants - 1992
Training Creates Access
to Expert Care - 1993
Largest Epicenters
Now Number 25 - 1994
AZT Is Found to Protect
Newborns From HIV - 1995
The Age of Combination
Therapy Arrives -
Adapting to Change - 1996
CARE Act
Reauthorized - 1997
Programs Unite
Under One Umbrella - 1998
Administration Addresses
Epidemic in Minorities - 1999
Minority AIDS Initiative
is Launched - 2000
Reauthorization Focuses
on People Not in Care -
A New Millennium - 2001
HRSA Publishes Treatment
Guide for Women - 2002
CARE Act Expertise
Goes Global - 2003
Global HIV/AIDS
Program Begins - 2004
HRSA Addresses
Severity of Need - 2005
New Treatment
for Addiction -
New Approaches - 2006
The CARE Act
Makeover - 2007
New Policies—
Waves of Change - 2008
Continuing Work
on Re-entry Programs - 2009
Improving
Performance Data - 2010
20 Years and
a Legacy of Care -
The Road Ahead - 2011
30 Years of AIDS:
Honoring the Past,
Looking Toward the Future - 2012
Care is Prevention