By Emily Bridges, Director, Public Information Services

President Obama announced on Friday, May 15 that he had chosen a new head for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  His selection, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, is an infectious disease specialist who has served for the last seven years as New York City’s public health commissioner. 

A part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s mission is conducting research on the prevention of STIs and HIV/AIDS, and working with communities to help slow the epidemic.  The CDC also provides statistics about the HIV and STI epidemics and about teen pregnancy and birth.

An administration’s ideology can play a role in the CDC’s approach to public health.  For instance, in 1999, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a fact sheet with messages to encourage sexually active people to use condoms to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). In 2001, under pressure from anti-condom activists within the Bush administration, CDC removed that document, replacing it a year later with a fact sheet that contained bias against condoms and had been altered to downplay their benefits and play up their risks. Learn more.      

By James Wagoner, President

Vision is more than rhetoric. It is a set of core values that animate and direct an organization’s external efforts while defining and inspiring its internal culture.

Advocates’ Rights. Respect. Responsibility.^® vision has transformed our work over the last ten years. Young people are now at the very center of our programs and policies rather than being cast as mere “end users” of our services. A steadfast organizational commitment to evidence-based public health has been expanded to include a human rights framework for sexual and reproductive health. The concept of responsible sexuality has moved beyond the management of risk factors and disease to include a positive, healthy, and holistic integration of young people’s physical, emotional, and spiritual needs.

A strong vision can also act as a north star when navigating dark and turbulent seas. Faced with an adversarial policy environment, Advocates did not mute its voice or shy away from controversy. It will stay the course because the destination is clear, although (while there is hope) still in the distance. What’s the destination? 

Sixty-seven countries have some sort of travel restriction for people living with HIV or AIDS. Among these, 13 countries do not allow HIV positive people to enter their countries. Sadly, the United States is one of these countries.

Recently, a provision was included in the reauthorized President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to end the statutory HIV travel ban passed in 1993. That's the good news! The bad news is that this action is only the first step. The Department of Health and Human Services must now remove HIV as one of its "communicable diseases of public health significance" in order to completely eliminate the travel ban. As a US citizen, I am disappointed that I am from such a powerful country that refuses to step up and stand for the human rights of those living with HIV.