The ACT NOW: END AIDS (ANEA) commends President Biden and congratulates Harold
Phillips on his appointment as Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP). ANEA is a national coalition of community-based organizations, health departments, national policy partners, and activists committed to ending the HIV epidemic in the United States. ANEA has had the pleasure of working alongside Phillips and can state confidentially that he brings a robust social and racial justice analysis necessary to challenge the structural barriers to ending HIV for all U.S. communities. Phillip’s lived experience as a Black gay man openly living with HIV and his demonstrated track record elevating community issues to federal
platforms through the Health Resources Service Administration’s HIV/AIDS Bureau uniquely qualify him for this role. ANEA looks forward to continuing our working relationship with Director Phillips.
Phillips’s appointment to the role of ONAP director will increase synchronicity between the Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) initiative and the recently updated HIV National Strategic Plan. Phillips must be fully entrusted to run and staff this office with leaders who, like him, understand what it is like to live with HIV or belong to a marginalized US class. Further, a successful plan to end the HIV epidemic will require a whole government approach; collaboration and buy-in across federal agencies are critical to getting the nation on track to reach its EHE targets.
This announcement is an important first step to revitalize the fight to end HIV/AIDS as an epidemic in the United States. In honor of the 40th anniversary of HIV and following a year of significant upheaval, ANEA is urging that the federal government take additional immediate steps level to revitalize EHE.
Sincerely,
The ACT NOW: END AIDS Coalition
Disclaimer: The content of this statement may not express the views of all members of the ANEA or our government partners.
