Summary: HIV/AIDS has killed about 700,000 people in the U.S. since it first emerged more than 40 years ago. But deaths have dropped dramatically since the mid-‘90s as new treatments have beome available. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2019 launched the Ending the HIV Epidemic Initiative that aims to eliminate the disease in this country. On this podcast, we talk with Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He discusses the range of treatments available to fight HIV/AIDS, strategies to prevent spread of the disease and the role state policymakers can play in helping eradicate the disease. Our other guest if Charlie Severance-Medaris, a policy expert at NCSL. Charlie explains the steps states are taking to help people to get access to critical medications, changes in laws that have criminalized some behaviors for people with HIV/AIDS, and other efforts at the state level to end the epidemic. Resources Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America, CDC Ending the HIV Epidemic: Jurisdictional Plans, NASTAD HIV and STD Criminalization Laws, CDC National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention NCSL’s Injury Prevention Database NCSL’s Substance Use Disorder Treatment Database OAS Episode 121 Transcription Preventing Infectious Diseases Caused by Injecting Drugs Syringe Service Programs, CDC
