Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Timeline

February 5: President Donald J. Trump announces his administration’s new initiative, Ending the Epidemic: A Plan for America, during his State of the Union address.

February 5: HHS Secretary Alex Azar shares additional details about the new plan in a blog post.

February 7: HHS leaders publish an editorial in the online edition of JAMA that provides details about Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan America.

February 28: CDC data confirm that progress in HIV prevention has stalled—demonstrating the critical need for the new plan.

March 5: Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), gives a plenary address about the plan at the 2019 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections.

March 11: HHS announces that Minority HIV/AIDS Fund resources will be used to support initial plan activities.

March 11: President Trump proposes $291 million in the FY2020 HHS budget to begin the multi-year initiative focused on ending the HIV epidemic in the U.S. by 2030.

March 13: HRSA hosts a webinarExit Disclaimer for its grantees on the agency’s role in implementing Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America. (Note: You must sign in before you can view the webinar.)

March 14-15: The Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) convenes and discusses the plan to end the HIV epidemic.

March 18: New CDC analysis indicates that the vast majority (about 80%) of new HIV infections in the U.S. in 2016 were transmitted from people who either did not know they had HIV or who were not receiving HIV care—highlighting the power of testing and treatment to end the HIV epidemic in the U.S.

March 18: CDC’s National HIV Prevention Conference (NHPC) opens with a plenary session on Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America.

March 19: HHS Secretary Alex Azar addresses NHPC about the plan.

May 9: HHS announces that Gilead Sciences has agreed to donate PrEP medication for up to 200,000 uninsured individuals each year for up to 11 years. This supports the plan’s objective to increase the number of people who have access to PrEP.

May 15: Getting to Zero Illinois launches the first stage of a planExit Disclaimer to end the epidemic in Illinois by 2030. This plan shares a core foundation with Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America: increasing the number of people who are virally suppressed or on PrEP.

June 4: Dr. Fauci and Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), participate in a webinar on Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America.Exit Disclaimer The event is hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies/Global Health Policy Center.

June 11: The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (Task Force) gives A-level recommendations for HIV screening and prevention. The Task Force states that clinicians should screen for HIV in adolescents, adults, and pregnant people and offer PrEP to people at high risk for HIV. These recommendations give strong support for the plan’s objectives related to HIV testing and prevention.

June 25: HRSA hosts its second webinar on the planExit Disclaimer for all Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program recipients, partner organizations, and stakeholders.

June 27: The Trump administration awards $1 million in Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program grants to 10 metropolitan areas to provide technical assistance to strengthen efforts to end the HIV epidemic through improvements along the HIV care continuum.

June 27: IHS and the Cherokee Nation launch a new HIV pilot project to support Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America. The pilot will use $1.5 million in funding from the Minority HIV/AIDS Fund (MHAF) to begin implementing and evaluating key foundational activities that will accelerate progress toward ending the HIV epidemic in Indian Country.

July 3: HHS awards pilot funds to three jurisdictions to jumpstart activities to further reduce the number of new HIV transmissions. Each of the jurisdictions—DeKalb County, Georgia; Baltimore City, Maryland; and East Baton Rouge, Louisiana—receives $1.5 million from the MHAF for this purpose.

July 8: The Assistant Secretary for Health, ADM Brett Giroir, announces that a team of U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps officers will provide regional support for Ending the HIV Epidemic initiatives in Atlanta, Dallas, and Los Angeles. As part of the Corps’ Prevention through Active Community Engagement (PACE) program, the officers’ will develop health interventions to targeted communities.

July 9: Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS’s (PACHA) 64, focusing on Ending the HIV Epidemic in the southern states and among African Americans.

July 22: Researchers report findings of an NIH-funded study of strategies to identify and support men who have sex with men and transgender women with unsuppressed HIV. When “hardly reached” individuals were reached and connected to HIV treatment through concerted efforts, nearly half were virally suppressed by one year.

September 5: Representatives from most of the 57 jurisdictions prioritized in Phase I of Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America gather for a full-day meeting with representatives from several U.S. Department of Health and Human Services agencies to discuss their plans to achieve the initiative’s goals.

September 5-8: The 2019 U.S. Conference on AIDS brings together people with HIV, health care providers, activists, federal leaders, and representatives of clinics and community-based organizations to discuss implementation of Ending the Epidemic: A Plan for America.

September 26: HHS appoints Harold J. Phillips as Senior HIV Advisor in the Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy (OIDP) and Chief Operating Officer of Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America. In this position, he oversees the coordination of the initiative’s activities across all of HHS’s operating divisions as they help jurisdictions make the best use of the science, data, and tools now available to end the HIV epidemic. He also ensures there is both community awareness and engagement in all EHE efforts.

October 7: IHS awards $2.4 million to nine Tribal Epidemiology Centers to support implementation of EHE in Indian Country.

October 21-22: The 65^th meeting of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) is held in Miami, Florida, with a focus on HIV in the Latinx community and the response to HIV in Florida and Puerto Rico.

December 3: A new CDC Vital Signs report shows that progress in reducing new HIV infections in the United States has stalled in recent years. The report highlights the need for increased HIV testing, treatment, and prevention to end the HIV epidemic in the U.S.

December 11: HRSA’s HIV/AIDS Bureau releases a new report showing that clients receiving Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) medical care were virally suppressed at a record level – 87.1 percent – in 2018. More than half of people with diagnosed HIV in the United States received services through HRSA’s RWHAP program in 2018.

January 24: CDC publishes Integrated HIV Programs for Health Departments to Support Ending the HIV Epidemic in the United States (CDC-RFA-PS20-2010), a major funding opportunity designed to advance the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative. Targeting the 57EHE Phase I jurisdictions, the five-year funding program will infuse those communities with the resources, technology, and expertise needed to strengthen HIV prevention and treatment. First-year awards are expected to total approximately $109 million.

February 10: President Donald J. Trump releases his Fiscal Year 2021 Federal Budget proposal. The 2021 Budget includes $716 million for the second year of the multiyear Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative, a $450 million increase compared to the 2020 enacted level.

February 10-11: The Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS holds its 66th full-Council meeting in Washington, D.C. The Council hears updates on EHE from the Assistant Secretary for Health and the Director of the HHS Office on Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy. In addition, the Council members review the progress of four pilot sites to jumpstart Ending the HIV Epidemic activities, hear perspectives about HIV stigma, consider the unique HIV-related needs of women, and hear about best practices and challenges in responding effectively to the HIV epidemic in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia.

February 26: HHS, through HRSA, awards approximately $117 million to expand access to HIV care, treatment, medication, and prevention services in EHE Phase I jurisdictions. This includes $54 million in Health Center Program awards to 195 health centers to identify at-risk individuals and engage in preventive services, test for HIV, and prescribe PrEP when appropriate, as well as $63 million to 60 Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program recipients to link people who are either newly diagnosed with HIV, or diagnosed but currently not in care, to essential HIV care, treatment, and support services, helping them reach viral suppression and reduce HIV transmission.

March 19: CDC adds new PrEP coverage data to AtlasPlus, its interactive data visualization tool. The data is available nationally, for states, and for all phase I Ending the HIV Epidemic jurisdictions. This information will assist jurisdictions in understanding the status of PrEP coverage in their area and implementing strategies to increase access to and use of PrEP.

March 27: HHS announces that beginning April 1, 2020, patients enrolled in the Ready, Set, PrEP program will fill their prescriptions for PrEP medication at no cost at their choice of Avita Pharmacy, CVS Health, Health Mart, Longs Pharmacy Solutions, Rite Aid, and Walgreens locations or by using one of these pharmacies’ mail order solutions. This represents about a third of all the pharmacies in the country, providing a valuable service to those using PrEP and resulting in substantial cost savings to the federal government.

April 28: HRSA’s HIV/AIDS Bureau announces five Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs) for initiatives on HIV stigma reduction, implementing rapid ART initiation, and improving care and treatment for Black women with HIV. All five NOFOs are supported by the Minority HIV/AIDS Fund and advance the goals of the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative.

May 11: HRSA’ Federal Office of Rural Health Policy FORHP issues a funding opportunity announcement under the Rural HIV/AIDS Planning Program to assist in the development of an integrated rural HIV health network for HIV care and treatment that will collaboratively plan to address key strategies identified in the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative.

May 18: HHS provides an implementation update on Ending the HIV Epidemic during NASTAD’s virtual annual meeting, emphasizing that during the coronavirus pandemic, the response to HIV and the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative remain Administration priorities.

June 16: Albertsons Companies and Walmart donate their pharmacy dispensing services to the Ready, Set, PrEP program, increasing the number of pharmacies participating in the program to expand access to HIV prevention medications.

July 6: EHE is highlighted at the 23rd International AIDS Conference (AIDS2020 Virtual). At the conference, HHS Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy hosts a satellite session, Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America: A Conversation, featuring a conversation between government and community about EHE implementation and the Ready, Set, PrEP program.

July 16: The HHS Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy hosts a stakeholder webinar on EHE implementation. Federal partners provide updates on agency activities and innovative efforts to prevent HIV infection and improve delivery of care.

July 31: CDC awards $109 million to 32 state and local health departments that represent the 57 EHE Phase 1 jurisdictions. The funding was awarded through CDC’s “Integrated HIV Program for Health Departments to Support Ending the HIV Epidemic in the United States” cooperative agreement and is part of a five-year funding program. Communities will use the funding to customize and implement high-impact HIV diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and response strategies, and to reduce local barriers to HIV prevention and care.

August 6: HHS announces a $4 million contract with TrialCard for one year with four one-year option years to continue to expand access to PrEP medications at no cost to eligible individuals without prescription drug coverage through Ready, Set, PrEP, a key component of EHE.

August 7: EHE implementation activities are highlighted across many sessions at the 2020 Ryan White National Conference. HIV.gov hosted a series of conversations about current and planned EHE activities to further the goals of the initiative.

August 17: HHS launches AHEAD: America’s HIV Epidemic Analysis Dashboard, a tool that provides national and jurisdictional data on the six EHE indicators, allowing national, state, and local stakeholders to track progress towards meeting EHE goals.

September 24: NIH awards approximately $10 million to support implementation science research to advance the goals of the EHE initiative. All of the funded projects involve close collaboration between NIH investigators and local implementing partners and community groups in EHE Phase I priority areas.

September 28: CDC releases the Comprehensive High-Impact HIV Prevention Programs for Community Based Organizations Notice of Funding Opportunity (PS21-2102), for community-based organizations (CBOs) to develop and implement high-impact HIV prevention programs in accordance with the EHE initiative and CDC’s High-Impact HIV Prevention approach.

October 14: EHE COO Harold J. Phillips shares an update on EHE activities during a webinar with the Latino Commission on AIDS in the lead-up to the observance of National Latinx Awareness Day, encouraging all organizations and agencies to get involved in this whole-of-society effort.

October 21: EHE COO Harold J. Phillips participates in a plenary session at the U.S. Conference on HIV/AIDS (USCHA) on the status of and next steps for the EHE initiative, and hosts a series of conversations with federal and community leaders on current EHE activities and how EHE is being implemented on the local level.

October 29: The HHS Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy hosts an EHE quarterly stakeholder webinar on major federal activities related to the implementation of the EHE initiative and models of community engagement during COVID-19.

November 10: CDC, in conjunction with its funded Capacity Building Assistance Provider Network Technical Assistance (TA) Providers, announces four virtual Regional Community Engagement Town Hall Sessions to educate, encourage, and empower community members to participate in local EHE planning processes. They invite “new voices” and previously unheard local community members and organizations to these regional town halls.

November 19: CDC publishes a new study showing that the age-adjusted rate of HIV-related deaths among people with HIV in the U.S. fell by nearly half from 2010 to 2017. Much of the reduction was likely the result of early testing and diagnoses of people with HIV and helping them to get – and stay on – lifesaving treatment, underscoring the need to sustain and scale up the EHE initiative.

November 27: HUD’s Office of HIV/AIDS Housing releases a Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA) Resource Tool, allowing EHE Phase 1 jurisdictions and HUD partners to more easily identify where HOPWA and EHE resources intersect.

December 2: HHS invites comments on the draft HIV National Strategic Plan for 2021-2025, which sets forth the same bold targets for ending the HIV epidemic in the United States by 2030 as the EHE initiative, including a 75% reduction in new HIV infections by 2025 and a 90% reduction by 2030. EHE will become a leading component of the work by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in collaboration with local, state, federal and community partners, to implement the HIV Plan and achieve these goals.

December 2-3: The Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) holds its (virtual) 69th full Council meeting, including discussions on the status of the EHE initiative, assuring equity in the initiative, and future implementation efforts.

December 7: The HRSA Health Center Program releases the FY 2021 Ending the HIV Epidemic – Primary Care HIV Prevention Notice of Funding Opportunity, with the goal of increasing the number of health centers in the 57 EHE jurisdictions that are focused on HIV prevention.

December 7: HRSA’s HIV/AIDS Bureau releases the 2019 Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) Client-Level Data Report, showing that clients receiving RWHAP medical care were virally suppressed at a record level – 88.1 percent – in 2019. This success emphasizes the importance of continuing and expanding the HIV diagnosis, care, and treatment work of the EHE initiative.

December 18: CDC releases a technical package providing evidence of the effectiveness of strategies and approaches to support successful planning, design, implementation and sustainability of syringe services programs. Scaling up access to SSPs is a key strategy emphasized in EHE’s Prevent pillar.

January 15: HHS releases the HIV National Strategic Plan for the United States: A Roadmap to End the Epidemic 2021-2025 (HIV Plan), with a 10-year goal of reducing new HIV infections by 90% by 2030. It details four goals with objectives and strategies for use by all partners and stakeholders. The HIV Plan and the EHE initiative are closely aligned and complementary. The EHE initiative is serving as a leading component of the work by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to implement the HIV Plan.

January 25: HHS expands mail order delivery options for participants in its Ready, Set, PrEP program. A key component of EHE, Ready, Set, PrEP provides PrEP medications at no cost to eligible individuals without prescription drug coverage.

January 27: HRSA’s HIV/AIDS Bureau announces three new Notices of Funding Opportunity through the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program to support the EHE initiative. Two are for initiatives that use an implementation science framework to support the scale-up of effective and innovative interventions to improve health outcomes for people with HIV. The other is to build capacity among HIV surveillance and Medicaid programs for reporting high-quality HIV viral suppression data.

January 27: OIDP hosts its EHE quarterly stakeholder webinar, including updates on EHE implementation and a discussion of improving HIV diagnosis, care and prevention for Black women.

February 2: CDC releases HIV Prevention in the United States: Mobilizing to End the Epidemic, a resource that provides a snapshot of the state of the HIV epidemic in the United States, highlights CDC’s key efforts to reduce new HIV infections, and incorporates information about CDC’s implementation of EHE.

February 3: SAMHSA releases Prevention and Treatment of HIV Among People Living with Substance Use and/or Mental Disorders, a guide that addresses the co-occurrence of HIV and mental illness and/or substance use disorder and reviews effective programs and practices to prevent HIV and increase linkage to and retention in HIV care. The guide is part of SAMHSA’s ongoing efforts to implement EHE.

February 10: CDC issues the Partnering and Communicating Together funding opportunity that seeks to engage strategic partners in supporting the dissemination of messages and resources from its Let’s Stop HIV Together campaign to the populations and communities most impacted by HIV. This is part of CDC’s efforts to increase HIV awareness and promote HIV prevention and testing under the EHE initiative.

February 22: HHS releases an enhanced, interactive version of America’s HIV Epidemic Analysis Dashboard (AHEAD), an online tool that provides national and jurisdictional data on the six EHE indicators, allowing national, state, and local stakeholders to track progress towards meeting EHE goals. Among other enhancements, the dashboard now allows users to better filter by specific EHE indicator data.

March 5: HRSA’s HIV/AIDS Bureau awards nearly $99 million of FY21 EHE resources to 61 Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program recipients to link people with HIV to essential HIV care and treatment and support services, as well as to provide workforce training and technical assistance.

March 8-9: The Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) holds its 70th full Council meeting, including discussions on the status of the EHE initiative and HIV National Strategic Plan, future implementation efforts, the intersection of COVID-19 and HIV, and how to better address the needs of women with HIV and of the HIV community.

March 17: HRSA’s Bureau of Primary Health Care announces that 195 health centers across the nation achieved significant results in HIV testing, linkage to care, and PrEP starts in the first several months of their work as EHE grantees. Within the first eight months of award (March-November 2020), 93% of the health centers hired dedicated staff to work on HIV outreach, testing, linkage to care and treatment, and PrEP services; over 573,000 individuals were tested for HIV; 2,260 individuals tested positive for HIV and received follow-up within 30 days; and nearly 50,000 individuals at health centers were prescribed PrEP.

March 24: HRSA’s HIV/AIDS Bureau announces that in the first six months after receiving FY20 EHE funding awards, Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) recipients in the priority jurisdictions served nearly 10,000 people with HIV with EHE services. Of those served, 6,300 were new to RWHAP and an additional 3,600 were re-engaged in EHE care and treatment services.

April 5: HHS updates America’s HIV Epidemic Analysis Dashboard (AHEAD) with preliminary data for three of the six EHE indicators to provide EHE priority jurisdictions, communities, and other stakeholders with the most recent data to inform their planning and decision making.

April 28: NIH publishes three companion funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) for research to help end the HIV epidemic in EHE priority jurisdictions in collaboration with local partners. The FOAs focus on epidemiology to end the HIV epidemic, multidisciplinary treatment approaches, and prevention strategies, and all three encourage applicants to consider creative, locally defined, and culturally sensitive solutions.

May 12: CDC reaffirms the key role that STD clinics play in HIV diagnosis, prevention, care, and treatment, having awarded $3 million to seven EHE jurisdictions in August 2020 to scale up HIV services in STD clinics. CDC has been supporting these STD clinics as they expanded HIV services, including assistance in monitoring and evaluating clinic and patient outcomes. Measuring the impact of EHE STD clinic efforts will help to identify best practices to end the HIV epidemic and reduce the rates of STIs in the US.

May 28: The White House publishes President Biden’s Budget of the United States Government for Fiscal Year 2022 (October 1, 2021-September 30, 2022), including a request for $670 million for continued implementation of the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. initiative to help aggressively reduce new HIV cases while increasing access to treatment, expanding the use of PrEP, and ensuring equitable access to services and supports.

May 28: HHS updates America’s HIV Epidemic Analysis Dashboard (AHEAD) with new data for all six EHE indicators at the national, state/territory, and county/area levels to allow stakeholders to more closely examine how HIV prevention and treatment policies, services, and interventions can be enhanced, sustained, and replicated.

June 15: OIDP and a diverse range of national pharmacy leaders host a national call on the role of pharmacists in supporting the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. initiative, and how they help to re-energize the local response to HIV in collaboration—especially in communities with limited access to health services.

July 8: NIH shares session videos and posters from the virtual National EHE Meeting of the NIH-funded Centers for AIDS Research (CFAR) and AIDS Research Centers (ARC) that are conducting implementation science research in collaboration with EHE jurisdictions. The meeting featured presentations by project teams of academic investigators and their implementation and community partners, providing a forum to disseminate findings and novel approaches generated by NIH-funded EHE projects.

July 22: HHS announces the launch of The HIV Challenge, a national competition to engage communities to reduce HIV-related stigma and increase prevention and treatment among racial and ethnic minority people. Through this challenge, HHS seeks innovative and effective approaches to increase the use of PrEP and ART among people who are at increased risk for HIV or are people with HIV.

July 27: CDC announces the award of $117 million to state and local health departments in the 57 EHE jurisdictions to continue advancing innovation and health equity in the federal initiative to end HIV. The second year of funding will help rebuild and expand HIV prevention and treatment efforts as the U.S. recovers from COVID-19. The awards include $11 million for 19 communities to scale up quality HIV prevention services in sexually transmitted disease clinics.

August 3: As part of its implementation of the EHE initiative, NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) issues a request for applications for research projects on PrEP use among people who use drugs with goals of improving PrEP uptake, management, adherence, and implementation. Applicants are encouraged to propose research in EHE jurisdictions.

August 18: With support from the HHS Minority HIV/AIDS Fund (MHAF), CDC awarded $4.3 million in EHE Year 2 funding to supplement the National Network of Sexually Transmitted Diseases Clinical Prevention Training Centers’ training and technical assistance (T/TA) efforts. With these supplemental funds, eight regional prevention training centers and two national centers are assisting STD specialty clinic staff to improve their HIV prevention services for racial/ethnic and sexual and gender minority populations, reaching people in EHE jurisdictions with and at risk for HIV who may not otherwise access services.

August 23: CDC pilots new #ShesWell PrEP campaign in four EHE jurisdictions. The campaign is designed to increase awareness about Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among women, build capacity among clinicians to prescribe PrEP to women who can benefit from it, and ultimately increase PrEP use among women.

September 1: HRSA releases 2020 Data on HIV prevention and treatment in Health Centers in the 57 EHE jurisdictions. The 195 health centers that received fiscal year (FY) 2020 Primary Care HIV Prevention (PCHP) funding awards substantially contributed to health centers’ overall achievements in providing HIV testing, linkage to care, primary care, and PrEP services nationwide.

October 5: HHS announces roughly $2.21 billion in funding for the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program in Fiscal Year 2021 for cities, counties, states, and local community-based groups. This funding, provided by HRSA, supports a comprehensive system of primary medical care, medicine, and critical support services for almost 560,000 people living with HIV in the United States.

October 6: HHS releases an updated version of America's HIV Epidemic Analysis Dashboard (AHEAD) that allows users to view some EHE indicator data stratified by age, race/ethnicity, sex at birth, and transmission category at the state and county levels. It also provides access to more detailed EHE indicator data stratified at levels 1, 2, and 3, enabling stakeholders to identify which populations are adversely impacted by HIV.

October 12: HHS adds social determinants of health (SDOH) to AHEAD. The addition will help EHE stakeholders develop more comprehensive and data-driven plans of action to serve and meet the diverse needs of their jurisdictions.

October 20: HRSA issues the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Ending the HIV Epidemic - Primary Care HIV Prevention (PCHP) Notice of Funding Opportunity (HRSA-22-104). HRSA will invest about $50 million through this competitive funding opportunity in health facilities located in the specified geographic areas where most new HIV infections occur, as identified by the EHE initiative.

November 12: NIH announces the award of $16 million to support implementation science research to advance the goals of the EHE initiative. Approximately $15.2 million of the funds were distributed to 17 Centers for AIDS Research (CFARs) and to the National Institute of Mental Health’s 5 AIDS Research Centers (ARCs) for 36 new one-year awards. Of those awards, 15 will support creating research initiatives that meet needs identified by EHE teams working in local communities.

December 15: HRSA's HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB) releases its inaugural EHE Data Report. According to the report, from March 2020 to December 2020 HAB EHE-funded service providers delivered HIV care and treatment services to nearly 19,500 new or re-engaged clients. This surpassed the goal of serving 18,000 new or re-engaged clients during that first EHE year.

March 28: The White House published President Joe Biden’s fiscal year 2023 (FY2023) budget request, which includes $850 million in funding across CDC, HRSA, IHS, and NIH to continue to support the fourth year of the EHE initiative.

April 25: The Indian Health Service announces $5 million EHE funding opportunity to support work toward the elimination of HIV and hepatitis C in Indian Country.

June 10: Admiral Rachel Levine, MD, Assistant Secretary for Health, HHS, and Harold Phillips, Director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, attended the Ending the Epidemics meeting in San Francisco to hear from health department and community partners from several jurisdictions about Bay Area efforts to accelerate the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. (EHE) initiative and addressing the syndemics of HIV, hepatitis C, sexually transmitted infections, and substance use and overdose.

June 13: The Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (JAIDS) publishes a special issue on implementation research to end the HIV epidemic. It highlights findings from 17 implementation research projects conducted in partnership with communities by NIH-supported Centers for AIDS Research and AIDS Research Centers as part of the EHE initiative.

June 16: HHS launches “I am a Work of ART,” a national campaign to encourage people with HIV who are not in care to seek and stay in care and achieve viral suppression. The campaign features community members with HIV from diverse backgrounds sharing their stories about how antiretroviral therapy (ART) protects their health, helps them thrive, and prevents transmission of HIV to their partners. Supported by the Minority HIV/AIDS Fund, the campaign rollout focuses on 8 EHE jurisdictions.

June 16: HRSA awards nearly $115 million to 60 recipients to help implement the EHE initiative through the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program. The funding supports provision of core medical and support services in EHE jurisdictions, workforce capacity development, and technical assistance for grantees.

July 20: HRSA launches new campaign, Imagine: Ending HIV. It’s Possible., to inspire the HIV workforce to achieve the national goal of ending the HIV epidemic. The campaign focuses on the 47 Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) jurisdictions serving the 57 jurisdictions prioritized in the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. (EHE) initiative.

July 27: HHS’ Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy shares an update on the Prevention through Active Community Engagement (PACE) activity in HHS Regions 4, 6, and 9. The regional PACE officers have conducted outreach to more than 200 key EHE stakeholders and hosted over 120 EHE awareness events and listening sessions to identify the needs of the communities impacted by HIV and connect them to federal, state, and county HIV services.