Christopher Bates

The Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) will convene February 28 and 29 in Washington, DC. Among the many items on the agenda for the 45th meeting of the PACHA, two are of particular note:

• A conversation with Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius on a variety of issues, including the implementation of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy across HHS.
• PACHA will devote much of the first day of this meeting to an examination of the state of HIV/AIDS among women and girls in the U.S. and the nation's response. A number of speakers have been invited to address PACHA on issues including HIV/AIDS research, prevention, and access to care and treatment.

Other items on the agenda for the two-day meeting include HOPWA modernization, implications of health care reform on mental health and substance abuse services for people at risk for or living with HIV, and follow-up to discussions at the prior PACHA meeting on HIV and youth.

The meeting will be held at the White House and will be the first to be led by the newly appointed chairperson, Nancy Mahon. Ms. Mahon is Senior Vice President of M·A·C Cosmetics and Executive Director of the MAC AIDS Fund.

For more information, follow PACHA's activities via its website.

Christopher Bates, M.P.A., is executive director of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, and Senior Advisor to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, Infectious Diseases, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

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