12/3/2018
Opinion Piece Targets Policies, Not Conference
David Hardy, MD, Chair of the HIV Medicine Association
On World AIDS Day, The Hill Congress blog published an opinion piece I wrote to draw attention to policies that compromise U.S. leadership of global AIDS responses, and the success of responses at home.
I suggested a headline for the piece that expressed its point, that this 30th World AIDS Day finds efforts to end the epidemic stalled, and leadership compromised by destructive policies.
Unfortunately, the headline was changed in The Hill’s editing process to one that appears to suggest that HIVMA opposes the International AIDS Society’s decision to host its AIDS 2020 conference in the United States. That is not a position that HIVMA or I have taken. As described in the piece we share concerns raised by some within the HIV community regarding the impact of our country’s increasingly regressive and discriminatory policies and actions on individuals at higher risk for and living with HIV including the ability of those traveling from outside the US to attend AIDS 2020. HIVMA will continue to challenge actions that erode the programs and protections that people living with HIV and LGBTQ individuals count on.
Our intent is, and continues to be, to shine light on the policies, resources, and the political leadership needed to end the impacts of HIV at home and around the world.