Response from HIV- and sex work-focused organizations to the updated NHAS
Thank you for your interest in adding your organization to this letter to the White House & Office of National AIDS Policy regarding sex workers' inclusion in the recently updated NHAS. This letter is not accepting signatories at this time, but please find the text of this letter below.
"On December 1, 2021 in recognition of World AIDS Day, the Office of National AIDS Policy within the White House released the latest iteration of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) with policy recommendations to end the domestic HIV epidemic.
As organizations committed to advancing the rights of people engaged in sex work and to ending the HIV epidemic, we, the undersigned, are writing to commend the advances made in the recently updated NHAS and to strenuously encourage increased engagement with community members in efforts to develop more inclusive, effective federal HIV policy. For the first time since the Strategy’s initial release in 2010, sex workers were substantively acknowledged, and the federal government committed to dedicating resources to supporting sex workers as a community disproportionately burdened by HIV.
These advancements were hard-won by sex workers who have been organizing for inclusion in the federal HIV response (link: http://www.bestpracticespolicy.org/2021/12/01/press-release-2/) for over a decade. This inclusion also moves the United States closer in line with the global consensus (link: https://www.unaids.org/en/topic/key-populations) that sex workers must be prioritized in any efforts to end HIV. Furthermore, by including sex workers, the US has taken a long overdue step towards its realizing its commitment in accepting UN Recommendation 86 (link: https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/upr/recommendations/index.htm) from the 2010 Universal Periodic Review. Once again, sex workers were the leaders advocating for the recommendation (link: http://www.bestpracticespolicy.org/tag/recommendation-86/) and the United States’ acceptance of it, which included the government’s commitment to ensuring sex workers do not face discrimination in accessing public services, which must include HIV prevention and health care services.
As demonstrated in the NHAS’ approach that elevates the well-being of people living with HIV beyond biomedical measures, the Biden Administration is slowly adjusting some of the many changes that must be made to end the HIV epidemic. These include expansion of consumer-centered services for people who use drugs, people of transgender experience and people aging with HIV. Advocates are also pressing for reasonable policy decisions on molecular surveillance and adequate health care resources, especially in Southern states, as well as recognition of and attention to the impact of racism on the HIV epidemic. All of these and many other points of focus are essential to ending HIV.
Even with the progress seen in the updated NHAS, however, sex workers remain overlooked in the U.S. response to HIV. The Biden Administration — in line with its stated goal to end the HIV epidemic — will have to expand and promote health care service provision by sex workers, invest in their legal rights and move to end the criminalization of consensual sex work, and provide services and support that are already being made available to other impacted communities.
We who stand up for the rights of all people living with HIV also stand visibly for the rights of sex workers and join in supporting their needs as a community impacted by HIV. The White House and Office of National AIDS Policy must collaborate with community members engaged in sex work to effectively implement this historic Strategy and further expand these plans to address the HIV epidemic."
"On December 1, 2021 in recognition of World AIDS Day, the Office of National AIDS Policy within the White House released the latest iteration of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) with policy recommendations to end the domestic HIV epidemic.
As organizations committed to advancing the rights of people engaged in sex work and to ending the HIV epidemic, we, the undersigned, are writing to commend the advances made in the recently updated NHAS and to strenuously encourage increased engagement with community members in efforts to develop more inclusive, effective federal HIV policy. For the first time since the Strategy’s initial release in 2010, sex workers were substantively acknowledged, and the federal government committed to dedicating resources to supporting sex workers as a community disproportionately burdened by HIV.
These advancements were hard-won by sex workers who have been organizing for inclusion in the federal HIV response (link: http://www.bestpracticespolicy.org/2021/12/01/press-release-2/) for over a decade. This inclusion also moves the United States closer in line with the global consensus (link: https://www.unaids.org/en/topic/key-populations) that sex workers must be prioritized in any efforts to end HIV. Furthermore, by including sex workers, the US has taken a long overdue step towards its realizing its commitment in accepting UN Recommendation 86 (link: https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/upr/recommendations/index.htm) from the 2010 Universal Periodic Review. Once again, sex workers were the leaders advocating for the recommendation (link: http://www.bestpracticespolicy.org/tag/recommendation-86/) and the United States’ acceptance of it, which included the government’s commitment to ensuring sex workers do not face discrimination in accessing public services, which must include HIV prevention and health care services.
As demonstrated in the NHAS’ approach that elevates the well-being of people living with HIV beyond biomedical measures, the Biden Administration is slowly adjusting some of the many changes that must be made to end the HIV epidemic. These include expansion of consumer-centered services for people who use drugs, people of transgender experience and people aging with HIV. Advocates are also pressing for reasonable policy decisions on molecular surveillance and adequate health care resources, especially in Southern states, as well as recognition of and attention to the impact of racism on the HIV epidemic. All of these and many other points of focus are essential to ending HIV.
Even with the progress seen in the updated NHAS, however, sex workers remain overlooked in the U.S. response to HIV. The Biden Administration — in line with its stated goal to end the HIV epidemic — will have to expand and promote health care service provision by sex workers, invest in their legal rights and move to end the criminalization of consensual sex work, and provide services and support that are already being made available to other impacted communities.
We who stand up for the rights of all people living with HIV also stand visibly for the rights of sex workers and join in supporting their needs as a community impacted by HIV. The White House and Office of National AIDS Policy must collaborate with community members engaged in sex work to effectively implement this historic Strategy and further expand these plans to address the HIV epidemic."
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