The momentum to bring an end to HIV is coalescing, we’re asking everyone to commit in writing to ending the epidemic.  Will you sign the Declaration to END AIDS in America?  A Blue Ribbon Panel will draft the treatise.

The Declaration will crystallize our values and beliefs on how to take the science of Treatment as Prevention (TasP), High Impact Prevention (HIP), and Combination Prevention and make it work at a community level.   It will challenge us to use the Affordable Care Act and the Ryan White Care Act to provide essential services for People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) so that our grandchildren will have an AIDS free generation.  This oath provides an aspirational set of principles to guide our movement and the nation.  It will put the leadership and the perspective of PLWHA upfront, and be committed to decreasing new HIV infections while highlighting the continued need for a vaccine and a cure.

The official signing of the Declaration will occur at this year’s Summit to End the HIV/AIDS EpidemicThe Summit will be September 29-30 in Las Vegas, just prior to the United States Conference on AIDSThe document will be open for everyone to sign and commit to ending the epidemic.   

The declaration will not be a laundry list of needs, instead it will focus on four points:

    1. Promote PLWHA leadership in efforts to increase health care engagement and treatment
    2. Eliminate new HIV infections
    3. Reduce stigma, discrimination, and social injustices which increase HIV vulnerability and health disparities
    4. Maintain strong commitment to finding a vaccine and a cure

The Declaration requires money, in-kind donations, human resources and commitment.  A successful outcome depends upon planning, cooperation and a vision to make it real.  It will not happen overnight, but imagine when we are successful.  

Dr. Julio Montaner will Chair the panel.  Dr. Montaner is widely regarded as one of the fathers of TasP.  His cutting edge work regarding advocacy and implementation of TasP has brought us to this moment in history.  Now we must take the science and implement it at a community level.  Please see below for full list of participants.

image002.jpgBlue Ribbon Panel:

We have a shared legacy and together we can end this epidemic. Please see all Blue Ribbon Panel Participants of below:

Chair
Julio Montaner, MD, FRCPC, FCCP
BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS

Members
Bertrand Audoin
International AIDS Society

Jeff Bachar
Western North Carolina AIDS Project

Nancy Bernstein
National AIDS Housing Coalition

Don Blanchon
Whiteman Walker Health

Scott Campbell
Elton John AIDS Foundation

Robert Carroll
Association of Nurses in AIDS Care

Kevin Cathcart
Lambda Legal

Guillermo Chacon
Latino Commission on AIDS

Tommy Chesbro
HIV+ Activist

Cyndee Clay
Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive

Chris Collins
amfAR

Masen Davis
Transgender Law Center

Oscar De La O
Bienestar

John Duran
HIV+ Elected Official
West Hollywood City Council

Jamal Edwards
Howard Brown Health Center

Bill Farrand
Test Positive Aware Network

Ingrid Floyd
Iris House

Robert Greenwald
Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation
Harvard Law School

Neil Giuliano
San Francisco AIDS Foundation

Kathie Heirs
AIDS Alabama

Marjorie Hill
Gay Men’s Health Crisis

Regan Hoffman
HIV+ Magazine Editor
POZ Magazine

Jody Huckaby
PFLAG National (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays)

Rebecca Issacs
Equality Federation

Lorri Jean
LA Gay & Lesbian Center

Loretta Jennings
Outreach Inc.

Mark Johnson
Brotherhood, Inc.

Monica Johnson
HIV+ Executive Director
HEROES

Ronald Johnson
HIV+ Activist
AIDS United

Wilbur Jordan, MD
Los Angeles, CA

Michael Kaplan
HIV+ Executive Director
Cascade AIDS Project

Paul Kawata
National Minority AIDS Council

Mara Keisling
National Center for Transgender Equality

Reverend Joyce Turner Keller
Aspirations

Kate Kendell
National Center For Lesbian Rights

Sharon J. Lettman-Hicks
National Black Justice Coalition

Jeff Levi
Trust for America’s Health

Lance Toma
Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center

Marsha Martin
Urban Coalition for HIV/AIDS Prevention Services

Terry McGovern
Ford Foundation

Hernan Molina
West Hollywood City Council

David Munar
AIDS Foundation of Chicago

Kathy O’Brien
Hyacinth AIDS Foundation

Gregory Pappas, MD, PhD
HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, STD and TB Administration
DC Department of Health

Mario Perez
Los Angeles Office of AIDS Programs and Policy

Alvan Quamina
AIDS Project of the East Bay

Patrick Reynolds
 The House That Wisdom Built  

Valerie Rochester
Black Women’s Health Imperative

Therese Rodriguez
Asian Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS

Michael Ruppal
The AIDS Institute