Recently, I had the chance to sit down with my good friend and colleague, Jamal Brown, press secretary for the White House Office of Management and Budget, to talk about priorities for achieving the goals of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy through 2016 and my personal connection to HIV/AIDS work.

Check out our chat here:


The bottom line is that we, all of us—the federal government, state and local governments, people living with HIV, advocates, service providers and other stakeholders across the nation—need to have a laser focus on these four areas:

  1. Widespread HIV testing and linkage to care;
  2. Broad support for people living with HIV to remain engaged in comprehensive care;
  3. Universal viral suppression among people living with HIV; and
  4. Full access to PrEP services for those whom it is appropriate and desired.

If you haven’t read the Strategy, I strongly urge you to do so! It’s our nation’s roadmap for responding to HIV through 2020.  You can use it along with our Community Action Plan Framework to create a tailored strategy for your organization or community.

To hear more of our conversation and watch additional footage, including a discussion of PrEP, stigma, and our goals for the next 12 months, visit the AIDS.gov YouTube page.

The administration has less than a year left in office, but our collective work must continue beyond that. If we stay focused and do the work, we, as a nation, can actually end HIV as a public health threat in our lifetime. That was unfathomable just 20 or even 10 years ago—so let’s get it done, together.

Read the National HIV/AIDS Strategy Updated to 2020

View the National HIV/AIDS Strategy in this infographic

Get help developing a Community Action Framework

Learn more about the National HIV/AIDS Strategy

Learn about the important benefits of the Affordable Care Act

Douglas M. Brooks, MSW, is the director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy. This article was originally published on the AIDS.gov blog.