Dr. Fauci’s Data from NMAC’s Briefing

Dr. Fauci’s Data from NMAC’s Briefing

In last week’s “Connection,” we told you that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/NIH, was the sole presenter at NMAC’s World AIDS Day Congressional Briefing on Thursday, December 5, on Capitol Hill. You can see a video of his slide presentation here. Video of the full briefing is available here.

NMAC wants to thank Congresswoman Barbara Lee for co-hosting the briefing along with:

  • Congressional Caucus on HIV/AIDS,
  • Congressional Black Caucus,
  • Congressional Hispanic Caucus,
  • Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, and
  • Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus.

And thanks to Congressman Alcee Hastings for attending the briefing.

This was the first congressional briefing that NMAC has held in a long time. This year NMAC expanded its staff and hired Joe Huang-Racalto as Director of Government Relations and Public Policy. His main task is to reestablish NMAC’s voice on the hill during this critical time.

Here are some highlights from Dr. Fauci’s presentation:
Since Treatment = Prevention, are you aware of all the tools in our HIV prevention and treatment toolkits?
Using data from 2016, Dr. Fauci noted for the members of Congress and their staff the following HIV care continuum. Given our toolkit, jurisdictions should focus on retention in care and viral suppression for people living with HIV.
Dr. Fauci discussed the large PrEP gap in the United States. Using data from AVAC PrEPWatch that estimated that currently (October 2019) there are between 130,000-135,000 people on PrEP. The federal plan has a goal of 1.1 million people on PrEP, in other words there is a gap of 970,000 people.
You can few the full slide deck in a video here. And the full video of the briefing is available on NMAC’s Facebook page. As always, NMAC and the HIV movement owe a huge debt to Dr. Fauci. He has led our nation’s efforts through six presidential administrations.