PACHA Meeting in Washington, DC, Explored Latest National HIV Data, Federal HIV Activities, and More

The Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) met in Arlington, Virginia, just outside of Washington, DC, on June 5 and 6, 2024. During its 81^st full Council meeting, PACHA discussed the latest data on HIV in the United States, engaged with federal partners about efforts to end the HIV epidemic in the United States, heard about innovative health department-led state-level systems approaches, and discussed the impact of anti-LGBTQI+ laws. PACHA also engaged with community members during a “PACHA-to-the-People” community listening session and site visits to three organizations.

Administration Leaders Ruiz and Levine Address PACHA

The meeting opened with remarks from ADM Rachel Levine, MD, Assistant Secretary for Health, and Francisco Ruiz, Director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP). ADM Levine highlighted several efforts her office is leading in collaboration with partners across HHS, including the Summer of Pride which is seeking to advance health equity in LGBTQI+ communities by promoting HIV, viral hepatitis, and STI screening at Pride events. She also encouraged mpox vaccination for people with HIV and others at risk of acquiring mpox. ADM Levine also shared progress updates from the National Syphilis and Congenital Syphilis Syndemic Federal Task Force, highlighting the new CDC doxy PEP guidelines for STI prevention and the Task Force’s forthcoming release of considerations on point-of-care syphilis testing to improve diagnoses and initiation of rapid treatment. View her remarksExit Disclaimer.

Director Ruiz provided an overview of the Office of National AIDS Policy’s priorities. These include updating federal policies based on science, strengthening and accelerating the nation’s response to HIV, advancing equity and access to life-saving HIV medications and prevention and treatment services, and strengthening the HIV workforce. He also underscored the importance of remembering the humanity at the center of all this work. Director Ruiz also noted that ONAP, in collaboration with HHS, had initiated work to begin developing the 2026-2030 National HIV/AIDS Strategy. View his remarksExit Disclaimer.

Dr. Jeanne M. Marrazzo, Director of NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), also spoke to PACHA, presenting a review of the portfolio of HIV research that NIAID supports. She highlighted ongoing NIAID research on HIV prevention, treatment, comorbidities, vaccines, and cure, as well as its implementation research to support the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. (EHE) initiative. View her remarksExit Disclaimer.

Progress on Ending the HIV Epidemic in the United States

The remainder of the first day was a discussion about progress toward ending the HIV epidemic in the United States. The Council began with an examination of what the latest national HIV data tells us. Stacy Cohen, MPH, from CDC’s Division of HIV Prevention provided a summary of the latest national HIV surveillance data that CDC published in May. Then, Catarina Kim, MPHTM, of the HHS Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy (OIDP) presented how HIV data is visualized on America’s HIV Epidemic Analysis Dashboard (AHEAD), a tool developed to help monitor progress of the EHE initiative. Adding a focused perspective, PACHA Co-chair Dr. Vincent Guilamo-Ramos of Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing reviewed the latest data highlighting ongoing HIV inequities among Latinos and the U.S. and called for a focused response. PACHA Member Dr. Patrick Sullivan, Principal Scientist at Emory University’s AIDS Vu, underscored that ending the HIV epidemic relies on sufficient coverage of HIV treatment and prevention tools that are deployed in the highest-priority areas, delivered equitably, and sustained over time. Examining data on PrEP use, he illustrated that the people in greatest need are not benefitting from the tools available to end HIV, especially in Southern states.

The remainder of the first day of the meeting featured updates from and conversations with leaders from 10 federal agencies engaged in the federal response to HIV, including CDC, HRSA’s HIV/AIDS Bureau, HRSA’s Bureau of Primary Health Care, OIDP, NIH’s Office of AIDS Research, SAMHSA, IHS, CMS, HUD, and the HHS Administration for Community Living. View the video from these conversationsExit Disclaimer.

Complementing these conversations, the next day a panel of health department leaders from North Caroline, Maryland, and Washington, DC, also shared their experiences and recommendations related to designing and implementing innovative system level approaches to HIV and other public health issues in the final session led by PACHA Co-chair Dr. Guilamo-Ramos before his term came to an end. They discussed successes, challenges, and overall approaches to their state’s HIV responses, innovative payment models, and evidence supporting use of public health funds to address social determinants of health. View this sessionExit Disclaimer.

Anti-LGBTQI+ Laws & their Impact Nationally & Globally

PACHA also heard from a panel that shared diverse perspectives on the impact of growing efforts to push back on LGBTQI+ rights domestically and globally and the impact of these efforts on HIV risks and outcomes and the implications for progress towards NHAS and global HIV goals. View video of this discussionExit Disclaimer.

PACHA-to-the-People: 3 Site Visits and Community Engagement Session

PACHA continued hearing firsthand from people in communities who are responding to HIV every day through both site visits and a community engagement session. Members visited three community-based organizations in Washington, DC, that are involved different aspects of the community’s and nation’s response to HIV.

• Whitman-Walker Max Robinson CenterExit Disclaimer: For over 50 years, Whitman-Walker has been part of the fabric of the local DC and national community as first responder and care-provider for those living with HIV; a leader in LGBTQ+ care and advocacy; a research center working to discover breakthroughs in HIV treatment and prevention science. The federally qualified health center provides primary care, HIV services, and dental and behavioral health care in this new state-of-the art facility.
• Human Rights CampaignExit Disclaimer: By inspiring and engaging individuals and communities, the Human Rights Campaign strives to end discrimination against LGBTQ+ people and realize a world that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all. HRC’s Foundation supports several HIV and health equity projects.
• HIPSExit Disclaimer: HIPS advances the health rights and dignity of people and communities impacted by sex work and drug use by providing non-judgmental harm reduction services, advocacy, and community engagement led by those with lived experience.

During a PACHA-to-the-People community listening session, community members offered observations and recommendations with PACHA. These included an appeal to center Black women in efforts to end the HIV epidemic; a request to encourage and promote braided funding for HIV services, including increasing awareness of the flexibilities already available as well as educating appropriators about the value of allowing braiding of funds to better leverage resources for impact; a recommendation to expand funding to support housing for people living with HIV and an example of a program providing housing for young men at risk of HIV acquisition. Community members also shared a recommendation for greater engagement of community-based organizations in the HIV response as well as strong support for utilizing peer navigators and community health workers as a vital part of delivering HIV services. View the videoExit Disclaimer of this conversation.

Conversations from the June PACHA Meeting & Other Meeting Resources

During the PACHA meeting, HIV.gov spoke with several council members and presenters. View this roundup of those video interviews.

Read the full meeting summary. View slides from the meeting.

Next PACHA Meeting: August 28-29, 2024

The next PACHA meeting will take place virtually on August 28 and 29, 2024. Details about that meeting are available on HIV.gov’s About PACHA page.