Biden will propose to increase the fight against AIDS in the US with research and treatment by Reuters

By Jarrett Renshaw

(Reuters) – US President Joe Biden on Wednesday will present an updated national strategy to tackle the AIDS epidemic by promoting research funding, increasing access to treatment and recognizing the role that racism plays in unfair access to medical services.

The third update of the national AIDS strategy since 2010 sets a high goal of ending the US HIV epidemic by 2030, including a 75% reduction in new HIV infections by 2025 and a 90% reduction by 2030.

HIV / AIDS has killed more than 36 million people worldwide – more than 700,000 in the United States – since the virus was first identified in 1981.

In the 2020 campaign, Biden promised to update the national strategy launched by President Barack Obama in 2010.

“President Biden is fulfilling this commitment by launching a new national HIV / AIDS strategy on World AIDS Day and providing a framework and direction for the administration’s policies, research, programs and planning,” said a senior administration official.

Biden is announcing the plan as the world struggles to sustain the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 5.4 million people worldwide, including more than 700,000 in the United States. This is another illustration of the difficulties that world leaders face in eliminating disease.

The new anti-AIDS strategy, set out in a 98-page document, seeks to address social issues that affect HIV risk and health effects. It promotes reform of state laws that criminalize HIV transmission and adds new attention to opportunities for the private sector to help tackle the HIV epidemic.

Biden’s budget request included $ 670 million to implement the U.S. HIV Epidemic Termination Initiative, $ 267 million more than previous levels.

(COVID-19 accounts for more than 5.4 million deaths worldwide in 6 cases)