NCPA signed a letter addressed to two key White House policy advisers along with 22 other organizations last Friday pushing for expanded access to HIV prevention. Signatories cite the fact that approximately 1.2 million people in the U.S. are infected with HIV and approximately 13 percent of them do not even know they have it and require testing. “Gaps in HIV testing, prevention, and treatment access tell a quintessential story of health inequity,” the letter states, “complicated by systemic and structural barriers such as racism, stigma, and poverty, slowing efforts to end the HIV epidemic.” Community pharmacies being visited far more often than primary care providers, NCPA and others contend, can be the front lines for awareness, testing, and effective intervention.
NCPA