National Strategy to Address HIV/AIDS "Desperately Needed," Editorial Says

Statistics showing that blacks and men who have sex with men are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS and the impact of the virus on Washington, D.C., residents "should shock the conscience -- and spur action," a Washington Post editorial states. "The national strategy being crafted for the president must include efforts to destigmatize the disease and to get people tested and into treatment," and "HIV testing must become a routine part of medical care (akin to testing for diabetes, for instance)," the Post writes. "But none of this will work if all people from all ages and backgrounds don't know or refuse to learn their HIV status," the editorial adds. The editorial says that the national strategy expected to be developed within the next year by Jeffery Crowley, director of the Office of National AIDS Policy, is "long overdue and desperately needed" (7/21).

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