Advocates for Youth supports a National AIDS Strategy that incorporates the specific health and prevention needs of young people and communities of color.  In recent years, a number of organizations have come together to call for a domestic National AIDS Strategy to combat the increasing rates of HIV in America. The objectives of the Strategy are to lower HIV incidence, increase access to HIV care, reduce racial disparities, and to integrate HIV with STD, viral hepatitis and TB programs at the local level. All components of the Strategy must be evidence-based, culturally competent and youth-friendly. The ensure that the Strategy is effective, supporters are calling for increased coordination between all agencies that currently address domestic HIV/AIDS in a manner that will streamline efforts. A national strategy must also have as a priority the various health disparities that exist among vulnerable populations such as people of color, young people, women, and sexual minorities. 

Early Treatment for HIV Act (ETHA) (H.R. 1616/s.833)

ETHA would permit state Medicaid programs to cover low-income, HIV- positive Americans before they develop AIDS. The act would amend Title XIX of the Social Security Act to provide states with the option of covering low-income HIV infected individuals as "categorically needy." The bill is sponsored by Representative Eliot Engel (D-NY).