New York: A Look at One State’s Transformative Efforts To Combat The HIV/AIDS Epidemic While Leveraging Health Information Technology And Innovative Solutions

To commemorate National HIV Testing Day on June 27th, we wanted to highlight the State of New York’s efforts to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic when it first emerged, and to celebrate the new and innovative tools the state is exploring to prevent HIV and to test, diagnose, treat, and care for those living with the disease.

In 2010, under the National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States, the Obama Administration articulated a simple, yet bold vision: “The United States will become a place where new HIV infections are rare and when they do occur, every person regardless of age, gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, or socio-economic circumstance, will have unfettered access to high quality, life-extending care, free from stigma and discrimination.”

Over the past thirty years there has been tremendous progress made in fighting the disease. Recent data show however:

• 1.1 million people in the United States lived with HIV at the end of 2009
• Nearly one-fifth did not even know they were infected