An Open Letter to Dr. Robert Redfield
Director, Centers for Disease Control
Dear Dr. Redfield,
Congratulations on your appointment as the new Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It was especially heartening that, at your first meeting with CDC staff, you said it’s possible to end the HIV epidemic in America. Your ambitious goal of ending it within the next three to seven years was music to our ears. You are the first CDC director to have this vision and NMAC wants to work with you to make it a reality.
We have a mutual belief that biomedical HIV prevention is key to bending the curve of new HIV infections. Attached is the latest Blueprint from NMAC that shares policy recommendations on ways to expand access to PrEP and U=U/Treatment as Prevention. This document highlights the unique challenges people of color face in HIV prevention, care, and treatment. It gives ways to improve outreach to gay men of color, women of color, and the transgender community.
NMAC would like to formally invite you to attend this year’s National Biomedical HIV Prevention Summit on December 3-4, 2018. The meeting will be an opportunity to dialogue directly with community, share your vision for ending the epidemic, and discuss CDC’s plans to fully implement biomedical HIV prevention.
Ending AIDS must be more than a slogan; it takes planning, collaboration, and funding to make it real. Over the past five years, significant achievements have been made. Despite these successes, our gains have not been realized equally. Your vision to end the HIV epidemic within our lifetime can only happen when we work together. We may not agree on everything, but NMAC can definitely support, collaborate, and work to end the epidemic with CDC.
Yours in the struggle,
Paul Kawata
Executive Director
