Political Leaders
Political Leadership Blog
The goal of this page is to address political leaders, and their advisors, who are involved in making public policy, including heads of state, ministers of finance and health, and community advocates. The World Health Organization has issued new recommendations for ending the spread of HIV in the world. One recommendation is for broad use of a pill that prevents acquisition of HIV infection. Called pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, the HIV prevention pill has proven to be safe and effective for helping people stay free of the deadly infection. The medication is available throughout the world, at prices as low as USD 0.12 per day from generic manufacturers.
The key messages for political leaders are the following:
- In 2016, the United Nations concluded that new HIV infection rates have not been decreasing.
- HIV causes an infectious disease that spreads widely if control measures are not maintained.
- HIV treatment should be offered to all people with the infection, to prevent AIDS disease, to prevent transmission of HIV, and to prevent tuberculosis, which is another infection that occurs more frequently in people with untreated HIV.
- There is a new HIV prevention pill, called pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, that HIV uninfected people can take to stay free of HIV.
- Generic PrEP is available in most of the world, at a price as low as $5.60 per month.
- Specific policies are needed to make treatment and PrEP possible, including policies that make medications available in clinics and policies that protect people who come forward looking for ways to protect themselves from HIV.
- In cities that have scaled up both treatment and PrEP, the HIV rates are plummeting. This is true in both New York and San Francisco.
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“This is not the time to let our guard down. This is the time we should be stepping up our responses to get to the end of AIDS.”
John Dramani Mahama, President of Ghana
“…we’ve got to keep fighting. Fight for every person who needs our help today, but also fight for every person who didn’t live to see this moment…Keep fighting for all of them because we can end this pandemic. We can beat this disease. We can win this fight. We just have to keep at it, steady, persistent -- today, tomorrow, every day until we get to zero. And as long as I have the honor of being your President, that’s what this administration is going to keep doing. That’s my pledge. That’s my commitment to all of you. And that’s got to be our promise to each other -- because we’ve come so far and we’ve saved so many lives, we might as well finish the fight.”
Barak Obama, President of the United States of America
Political Leaders