WORLD AIDS DAY
New Push to Expand Private Sector HIV/AIDS Work
White House advisors envision businesses complementing government-led initiatives
BY MATT TRACY
A group of advisors who
provide recommendations
to the president
on issues pertaining
to HIV/AIDS is working with the
White House to ramp up private
sector involvement in efforts to end
the epidemic, particularly among
organizations and entities that
play major roles in healthcare delivery
or have a signifi cant base of
employees living with HIV/AIDS.
Marlene McNeese and John
Weisman, co-chairs of The Presidential
Advisory Council on HIV/
AIDS (PACHA), delivered a letter in
November to Health and Human
Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier
Becerra containing a 10-point list
of recommendations on facilitating
private sector involvement in the
fi ght against HIV/AIDS. The letter,
which was unanimously adopted
by members of PACHA during a
recent virtual meeting, noted that
much of the work around HIV prevention
and treatment has been
based on government-funded initiatives
and partnerships with impacted
communities.
McNeese and Wiesman stressed
that boosting private sector participation
could bolster existing
work by government and community
organizations, while also
reducing stigma — a key motivating
factor behind the new plan —
surrounding issues pertaining to
HIV/AIDS.
“We don’t just want the HIV
companies involved; we want other
healthcare companies like CVS,
but also infl uencers like Facebook
and Google, and Apple, where there
are a lot of employees and people
affected by HIV,” Carl Scmid, a
member of PACHA and executive
director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy
Institute, told Gay City News in a
phone interview. Schmid has been
deeply involved in HIV/AIDS work
CVS, for example, has discussed
increasing HIV testing in their
“minute clinic,” said Schmid, who
envisions a wide range of groups
involved in the effort, such as
faith-based organizations, unions,
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavider Becerra (left) and the Biden administration plan to ramp up the private sector’s role in the fi ght against HIV/
AIDS, according to a member of The Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA).
and educators, though the exact
involvement of those groups has
yet to be determined.
While PACHA sent the letter
to HHS asking the White House
to join the private sector push,
Schmid said he has been working
on the plan “directly at the request
of the White House.”
The new push by the White
House would include creating a
central organizing body with private
sector partners to develop and
establish activities and best practices;
dedicating staff resources
to the programs; and periodically
hosting White House/HHS events
to demonstrate the power of the
private sector to improve HIV response
efforts in impacted communities.
The role of the private
sector, the letter said, should speak
to communities most impacted by
HIV — including gay men, particularly
Black and Latinx gay men;
Black women; transgender women;
young individuals; the Native
American population; folks in the
south; and those who suffer from
substance abuse.
The letter also emphasized the
importance of collaboration between
HHS, the HIV community,
and HIV experts to shape goals
aimed at speeding up HIV response
across the country.
PACHA is urging the White
House to begin working with agencies
in the administration in order
to begin facilitating the new recommendations.
It is not clear how long the private
sector plans have been in the
works, but Schmid said the Trump
administration was contemplating
a similar approach — at least before
the COVID-19 pandemic threw
a wrench into everything. But now
the Biden administration appears
willing to move ahead with it, and
REUTERS/JONATHAN ERNST
the White House is expected to unveil
the new iniative on World AIDS
Day on December 1.
Among the missing components
of the private sector plan at the
moment is PrEP. Research surrounding
HIV prevention is ongoing
and experts are studying new
forms of injectable PrEP, which
have shown promising results in
early trials. Schmid envisions the
private sector carrying out work
to reduce stigma about PrEP and
inform people through educational
campaigns for local communities
as well as for healthcare providers
— especially at a time when too
many providers are still not knowledgeable
enough about PrEP.
An HHS spokesperson did not
respond to a request for comment
for this story. The White House is
expected to make an announcement
about the private sector plan
on World AIDS Day, December 1.
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