Obama Administration Launches Campaign To Refocus Attention On HIV/AIDS

The Obama White House, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have announced today a new five-year national communication campaign to combat complacency about the HIV/AIDS crisis in the United States.

CDC data show that every 9-and-a-half minutes another person in America becomes infected with HIV. About 56,000 Americans become newly infected with HIV each year, according to the data released last year. The figures were significantly higher than in previous CDC reports.
Each year, more than 14,000 people die of AIDS and AIDS-related diseases.

The new campaign has been dubbed “Act Against AIDS”

“Act Against AIDS seeks to put the HIV crisis back on the national radar screen,” said Melody Barnes, Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council.

“Our goal is to remind Americans that HIV/AIDS continues to pose a serious health threat in the United States and encourage them to get the facts they need to take action for themselves and their communities.”

The campaign will feature public service announcements and online communications, as well as targeted messages and outreach to the populations most severely affected by HIV/AIDS, beginning with African-Americans, with subsequent phases focusing on Latinos and other communities disproportionately impacted.

To help achieve widespread use of the campaign messages within African-American communities, the Obama Administration also announced the “Act Against AIDS Leadership Initiative,” a partnership with 14 of the nation’s leading African-American civic organizations to integrate HIV prevention into each organization’s outreach programs.

To promote broad use of the campaign messages, the CDC said it will collaborate with the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation to focus on outreach and technical assistance to the media and the entertainment industry.

The Act Against AIDS campaign will be supported by a CDC budget of roughly $45 million over the next five years, as well as the efforts of community, media, and public health partners across the country to promote and utilize campaign materials and messages.

“Right here in the United States, every 9 ½ minutes someone’s brother, sister, best friend, father or mother becomes infected with HIV,” said Jeffrey Crowley, Director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy. “Yet, research shows that many of those becoming infected do not recognize their risk. This is a major concern, because lack of knowledge contributes to increased risk behaviors.”