As of 2019, the most recent year for which the Centers for Disease Control has statistics, an estimated 1,189,700 people were living with HIV/AIDS. And while 36,801 individuals in the U.S. and dependent areas were newly diagnosed with HIV that year, CDC statistics indicated that the number of new diagnoses at the national level decreased by 9 percent from 2015 to 2019.
Will PrEP have a prominent role and significant impact in HIV prevention? We interviewed Gary Spinner, DMSc, PA, MPH, AAHIVS, medical director of the HIV/AIDS Program, Southwest Community Health Center, Randy Matthews, PhD, MD, senior principal scientist, Merck, and Carl Schmid, executive director, HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute.
“Patients with HIV, hepatitis, and so many other health conditions rely on copay assistance to afford their drugs. Healthcare is already expensive and when insurers add additional barriers and costs, such as not counting copay assistance towards a patient’s deductible, patients’ costs significantly increase, jeopardizing medication adherence and their health. We are pleased that Congress, in a bipartisan fashion, is addressing these cruel policies, often buried deep in plan documents, and urge swift adoption of the McEachin-Davis ‘HELP Copays Act'”: Carl Schmid.
William “Bill” Arnold, a founder and leader of several advocacy groups beginning in the mid-1990s that helped secure federal and state funding for life saving drugs for people with HIV/AIDS, died at his D.C. home on Sept. 29 of complications associated with lung cancer, according to his friend and fellow activist Jim Driscoll. He was 83.
With the goal of beating HIV by 2025 domestically and a pledge for a renewed effort to fight the disease globally, President Biden has put in place officials charged with making that happen.