One of the mysterious passersby enjoying Abraham’s hospitality in this Sunday’s first reading says, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah will then have a son.” Transmission of HIV to newborns is but one example of many threats to public health posed by the virus.

On Tuesday the Obama administration unveiled the first-ever coordinated national strategy to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic by reducing HIV infections and HIV-related health disparities, increasing care quality, and expanding access to services.

Each year about 56,000 people in the United States are infected with HIV, a rate that has remained unchanged for about a decade. Nationwide about 1.1 million Americans are living with HIV. The new strategy aims to reduce new HIV infections by 25 percent over the next five years.

The report tries to revive the sense of urgency that gripped the nation in the first years after discovery of the virus that causes AIDS. “Public attention to the HIV epidemic has waned,” the report said. “Because HIV is treatable, many people now think that it is no longer a public health emergency.”

“We’ve been keeping pace when we should be gaining ground,” U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said at a White House event to announce the new plan. Among the other main points of the strategy: focusing HIV prevention efforts on the highest-risk populations, which include gay and bisexual men as well as African Americans; increasing access to care, with the goal of getting 85 percent of patients into treatment within three months of being diagnosed with HIV infection; and increasing public education about HIV, even in communities with low infection rates.

“Countless Americans have devoted their lives to fighting the HIV epidemic, and thanks to their tireless work we’ve made real inroads,” President Obama stated in a letter accompanying the report. “Health care and other services providers have taught us how to provide quality services in diverse settings and develop medical homes for people with HIV. This moment represents an opportunity for the nation. Now is the time to build on and refocus our existing efforts to deliver better results for the American people.”

Source: Articles by the Associated Press, the New York Times, Healthday.com, and Astrid Fiano for DOTmed.com