ASTHO Commends President Trump's Commitment to Ending HIV Transmission by 2030

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Association of State and Territorial Health Officials

Feb 05, 2019, 22:27 ET

ARLINGTON, Va., Feb. 5, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) commends President Trump's State of the Union pledge to end HIV transmission by 2030.

"As state and territorial public health leaders, we are eager to collaborate with the Administration and with Congress to end the HIV epidemic in America by 2030," says John Wiesman, secretary of health for the Washington State Department of Health and ASTHO's immediate past president. "We know what works to halt the spread of HIV. I look forward to working with federal partners and colleagues across the country to bring these effective strategies to scale—both as a health official and as co-chair of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. For decades, public health leaders and our community partners have led comprehensive efforts reduce the stigma and disparities surrounding HIV, along with implementing routine testing and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). We must ensure that state, territorial, local, and tribal jurisdictions and our community-based organizations and healthcare partners have the resources necessary to enhance and deliver these evidence-based public health interventions."

"I am pleased that the President has identified ending HIV transmission as one of the top priorities of his Administration this coming year. I am confident that the President and others in the Administration and in Congress know how crucial state and territorial health officials are to implementing this initiative," says ASTHO CEO Michael Fraser. "For this promise to be fully realized, Congress must address sequestration funding cuts immediately and look at how to increase funding for critical HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention initiatives without cutting programs that address other public health priorities. This effort cannot move existing resources from one public health program and repurpose them to end HIV without serious consequences to our public health system. Our leadership is encouraged and committed to working with the President and with members of Congress to secure adequate investments in public health to meet this bold goal and end HIV transmission in the United States in the next ten years."

ASTHO is the national nonprofit organization representing the public health agencies of the United States, the U.S. territories and freely associated states, and the District of Columbia, as well as the more than 100,000 public health professionals these agencies employ. ASTHO members, the chief health officials of these jurisdictions, are dedicated to formulating and influencing sound public health policy and to ensuring excellence in public health practice.

SOURCE Association of State and Territorial Health Officials