Gregory House Programs' Executive Director Invited to Reception at
The White House for Release of Historic National AIDS Strategy
Released by President Obama on July 13, 2010
Jonathon Berliner, Executive Director was of a very select group of individuals to receive the honor of being invited to a reception at The White House where The President of the United States, President Barack Obama, thanked the HIV/AIDS Community and released his historic, first ever, National AIDS Strategy.
Jonathon Berliner, Executive Director, Gregory House Programs stated "it was a real honor to not only have been invited to The White House," but attend this historic event representing not only Gregory House Programs and Hawaii as the only person from Hawaii to receive an invitation to this historic event at The White House.
The National AIDS Strategy is http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/onap/nhas at The White House, Office of National AIDS Policy. The National AIDS Policy is in two parts:
- The National AIDS Strategy
- National AIDS Strategy Implementation Plan
"This is a significant step in the fight against HIV/AIDS" stated Jonathon Berliner, Executive Director of Gregory House Programs. Berliner stated "prior to this National AIDS Strategy, there has been no genuinely real significant nor official coordination of prevention and care services to combat HIV/AIDS in the United States and its territories and jurisdictions. Berliner noted "or years, the U.S. Government required other nations (developing and underdeveloped countries receiving financial support to combat HIV/AIDS) to have a comprehensive HIV/AIDS Strategy documenting their plan to combat the epidemic yet the United States never placed the same requirement of itself.
Now that the United States has an official National AIDS Strategy, the key will be the following:
- Adequate Government Funding to Fund the Priorities outlined in the National AIDS Strategy.
- Access to important HIV-related medications through Ryan White Modernization Act Funding, as well as resulting from Health Care Reform.
- Access to Adequate, Affordable, and Safe Permanent Supportive Housing, as well as Transitional Housing, since housing services, as noted in the National AIDS Strategy, is a key component to access and maintaining access to HIV care and treatment. Housing is Healthcare!
- And, all the other important and vital services as outlined in the National AIDS Strategy.
President Obama and his Office of National AIDS Policy are to be commended for taking this historic step in collecting the necessary input and data and following through with the first ever developed National AIDS Strategy for the United States.
Featured below are a few of the pictures taken during this historic event.
Click on the Picture above to read teh whole article