Government healthcare agencies establish HIV/AIDS prevention plan

Federal healthcare officials have announced plans to launch an initiative in response to the growing population of Americans who are contracting HIV/AIDS.

Campaign supporters hope the plan will pave the way for combined efforts between policymakers, community organizations and the country's population to improve sexually transmitted disease (STD) prevention. Efforts would include implementing better healthcare services for those who have HIV, improving accessibility of treatments and lowering the mortality rate from the disease.

Government analysts report this initiative comes at a point in the country's history of STD prevention in which nonprofit organizations that oversee STD clinics and provide assistance to those with the virus are struggling to continue their efforts. Also, waiting lists for the AIDS Drug Assistance Programs are the highest ever reported.

Because services offered to HIV/AIDS patients are strained by the growing population of infected people, more are dying from the disease. In fact, more than 18,000 Americans die from AIDS each year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.

Judith Auerbach, vice president of the AIDS Foundation, stated that "this plan represents the work of thousands of individuals whose leadership and input over the last three years helped it take shape." She added that "now it is up to all of us to ensure its full funding and implementation and hold our government accountable for progress under the plan."