In support of the World AIDS Day, the White House on Tuesday released an action plan for combating the disease in the United States over the next five years. The city seeks to steadily lower its number of cases in line with the statewide goal of no more than 750 new infections annually by 2020.
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Some of those dollars will go toward creating more affordable housing, and providing housing assistance, to those living with HIV.
“We’ll have a world aids day choir performing, we’ll have quest speakers, we’ll have a candle lighting ceremony were people can light a candle in honor or in memory of somebody”, said Rodriguez. “These new partners will bring innovative thinking and critical resources, which will prevent new infections and save lives”.
This year’s World AIDS Day theme is “The Time to Act is Now”, which highlights the need to implement the latest evidence-based HIV prevention strategies. “The cases of AIDS virus spreading by drug-taking activities continued to decline”.
He said the zero new infections, zero discrimination and zero HIV deaths slogan can also be attained through leadership commitment. “So it’s a teaching moment right, an opportunity for people to maybe hear from us who work in the field everyday”.
He described the contentious AIDS situation in the Philippines, which he said is “where the US was 20 years ago” in regard to attitudes toward and methods for combating the virus.
According to a city report, Long Beach has an approximately 50 percent mortality rate for people who have contracted AIDS, with about 3,126 people living with AIDS since 2013.
“New York was once the epicenter of the AIDS crisis – but now we are showing the nation how to fight back and make this epidemic a thing of the past”, said Governor Cuomo in a statement Monday. The county sees about 130 new HIV infections each year, a figure mostly unchanged over the past six years, according to her department.
Today (World AIDS Day) we remember that even with these advances in treatment and increased prevention efforts, HIV is still a deadly disease that’s very preventable.
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The organization also distributed more than 6,500 free condoms, which are the best know form of protection against contracting HIV.
