The national HIV/AIDS strategy was released Tuesday. President Obama eloquently presided over a nice event commemorating his approach to an epidemic that still kills on the order of 14,000 Americans every year. There are important issues here–about money, about the disappointing impact of behavioral interventions, about the public management challenges of both HIV prevention and the various proposed approaches to identifying infected people and bringing them into early care. Most of all, there is the state and local budget crisis, which is deeply damaging every area of public health.
The release attracted less attention than Bristol Palin’s whatever. There were a few good analyses (e.g. here and here and here), but surprisingly few. I follow various progressive folks on twitter. Aside from the reliable folks at Kaiser Health News, I didn’t get a single tweet about it.
I posted this short analysis of the plan, arguing that it provides a good framework that needs more details and more cash. It also needs greater appreciation and scrutiny. We can’t afford to get bored or complacent with this.