The Creation of a National HIV/AIDS Strategy in the United States

Jeffrey Crowley M.P.H.

Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy

Gregorio Millett M.P.H.

Senior Policy Advisor in National AIDS Policy

Who are these guys and how do their ideas and beliefs towards HIV Prevention going to affect us?

For as long as these gentleman have been in office, I had no idea who they were.  When you are kind of on the bottom of the chain, sometimes it's hard to see who is at the very top.  But listening in on a community input call for a National HIV/AIDS Strategy, I decided to see who these guys are who will dictate how we combat HIV/AIDS in the next few years. 

Briefly, here are the bios from the Whitehouse website for these two gentlemen.

Jeffrey Crowley 

From 2000-2009, Mr. Crowley was a Senior Research Scholar at Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute and a Senior Scholar at the University’s O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. His primary areas of focus involved Medicaid and Medicare policy issues as they impact people with disabilities and chronic conditions, including people with HIV/AIDS. Prior to this, he served as the Deputy Executive Director for Programs at the National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA), overseeing the organization’s public education, community development, and training activities.

Gregorio Millett

He is the staff lead for the HIV interagency working group that is tasked with developing the National HIV AIDS Strategy. Prior to his position with Office National AIDS Policy, Mr. Millett was a Senior Behavioral Scientist in the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention (DHAP) at CDC in Atlanta. In that capacity, he authored numerous peer reviewed papers that explored racial/ethnic disparities in HIV among men who have sex with men (MSM), correlates of HIV risk behavior among bisexual men of color, and the relationship between circumcision and HIV acquisition among MSM

So, are these two guys who will understand what needs to be done to combat HIV/AIDS?

Here's a VIDEO from the first meeting of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS where Crowley actually discusses what has been done up to February 2010 on HIV/AIDS. 

So far, the 3 main items that the Natioal HIV/AIDS Strategy will be focusing on is:

1.  Reducing the rates of HIV/AIDS infections in the US

2.  Making sure that more people who are living with HIV/AIDS is getting treatment and care.

3.  Reducing the health complications associated with HIV/AIDS

Obama has budged $3 Billion towards the prevention and treatment of HIV in the US.  There is discussion that the Obama administration will direct focus of HIV prevention in targeted communities where HIV infection is more concentrated.  The African American community is one of these populations.  Some figures that were mentioned in reasoning in addessing this community is 

1 out of 16 African American men and

1 out of 30 African American women will become infected with HIV in their lifetime.

There still seems limited amount of talk in addessing the Gay/Bisexual male community with HIV prevention messages.  I'm hoping that infections within this community is pointed out and acknowledge by this administration as the TOP priority. I especially hope Gregorio Millett takes a stand behind this given his previous work within these communities.   

What do you all think?  What are some things you hope the National HIV/AIDS Strategy will address?