For the second time in as many weeks, HIV/AIDS advocates are calling on President-elect Barack Obama to develop a comprehensive approach to domestic HIV/AIDS policy. The groups want increased federal funding for HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and research "and a departure from some policies enacted under the Bush administration"—such the ban on federal funding for needle-exchange programs and mandates for abstinence-only sex education.
HIV/AIDS advocates are also urging the new administration to resurrect the White House Office on National AIDS Policy and
appoint a new "AIDS czar." According to the Bay Area Reporter, one of the leading contenders is Jesse Milan Jr., chairman
of the Los Angeles-based Black AIDS Institute.
The openly gay Milan, 52, who has been HIV-positive for 26 years, is vice president of the Altarum Institute, a nonprofit that focuses on health research. He also chairs the CDC Business and Labor Responds to AIDS Partners Board.
From 2002 until last year, he co-chaired the CDC's and the Health Resources and Services Administration's Advisory Committee on HIV and STD Prevention and Treatments, through which he pushed to see adoption of a national AIDS strategy. Since last spring he has served on the national committee working on developing such a document.
Milan tells the Bay Area Reporter he would be happy to serve in an capacity in the Obama White House and is "hoping to be asked to do something to move the HIV/AIDS agenda forward."
Milan certainly has the credentials to become the nation's next AIDS czar. But his appointment would also crystallize the recent report by the Centers for Disease Controls which found black gay men are the demographic hardest hit by the epidemic. If anyone can tailor programs, policy and common sense to reach this hard-to-reach demographic, that would be Jesse Milan Jr.
Groups Push National AIDS Strategy [BAR]
Some Background ...
1,000+ Rally at WH Urging Obama to Prioritize HIV/AIDS [R20]
CDC: Young Black Gay Men Hit Hardest by New HIV Infections [R20]
HIV Spreading in NYC at Three Times National Rate Black/Latino Gay Men Hit Hardest [R20]
CDC: "Troubling" Rise in HIV Among Black Gay Men [R20]
GMHC's "I Love My Boo" Campaign [R20]
HIV Rates Rising Among Black NYC Gay Men [R20]
CDC Tracking "Serious" Strain of Syphilis [R20]
The HIV Morning After Pill? [R20]
Black Gay Men and "The Pill" [R20]
Jonathan Perry in "The Advocate" [R20]
Ending Black Homophobia Will Reduce HIV [R20]
Do You Disclose Your HIV Status? [R20]
Primetime Reports Black HIV Epidemic [After Elton]
"Out of Control: AIDS in Black America" [R20]
POZ Examines Race and the Down Low [R20]
HIV Rates Rise Among NYC Black Gay Men [R20]
Phill Wilson: Candidates Must Address HIV/AIDS [R20]
POZ Examines Race and the “Down Low” [R20]
"Urban Rally Against AIDS" [R20]
The ABCs of Black HIV [R20]
Suicide Tuesdays [R20]
This would truly be good news. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. And toes.
Posted by: Taylor Siluwé | 26 November 2008 at 13:32
It would be wonderful to have Mr Milan appointed in such a role in the Obama Administration. Why not Surgeon General? Put a homo somewhere, Slim...I mean, President Obama.
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | 26 November 2008 at 13:32
Oh, yay, I hope this happens. I am very hopeful for a cabinet that looks like America -- we already have a female Secretary of Homeland Security and an African American Attorney General, both firsts in the position. That's progress I can get behind.
Posted by: Michelle | 26 November 2008 at 16:36
This is great news. There is so much ground to cover after a disastrous 8 years of abstinence only and a retreat from direct prevention messages to gay and bi men. Nothing beats a seat at the table.
Posted by: Otis | 28 November 2008 at 10:58
Jesse would be a wonderful choice for this position. Since his diagnosis 26 years ago he has always been in the forefront on this issue here at home and abroad.
Posted by: Christina | 28 November 2008 at 15:17