Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today affirmed his Administration’s commitment to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) goal of reducing HIV infection by 50 % by 2005. The Mayor’s delivered his address at the 11th Annual Community Planning Leadership Summit, the largest HIV/AIDS summit in New York City history, sponsored by the CDC, the National Minority AIDS Council, the Academy for Educational Development, and the National Alliance of State & Territorial AIDS Directors. During his speech, the Mayor charged HIV and AIDS service organizations and City government agencies with the task of bridging the gap between HIV/AIDS prevention and care. Deputy Mayor for Policy Dennis Walcott, Mayor’s Office of AIDS Policy Coordinator Frank Oldham, Jr., Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) Commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden, and Human Resources Administration (HRA) Commissioner Verna Eggleston attended the event at the Sheraton Hotel & Towers in Manhattan.

"We will establish a new standard of accountability at every level of New York City’s response to HIV/AIDS prevention and care," said Mayor Bloomberg. "My Administration will treat this matter with a sense of urgency befitting an epidemic and our strategy to confront HIV/AIDS will have two principal goals: First, New York City will become the national model in its efforts to meet the CDC’s goal of reducing new HIV infections in the United States by 50% by 2005. Second, we will to provide the best care and treatment in the world. I pledge that my Administration to work harder and work together to help the more than 100,000 New Yorkers living with HIV or AIDS find treatment and live productive lives, free of discrimination or stigma, and to continue the research that will find a cure for AIDS."

"Mayor Bloomberg has charged my office with developing a comprehensive plan for the delivery of AIDS services, and we are going to work with all City agencies and our community partners to develop a local model which will set the national standard for AIDS prevention and services," said AIDS Policy Coordinator Frank Oldham. "With the HIV/AIDS epidemic showing signs of rising again, our Office is uniquely situated to not only interact and coordinate with City agencies, but also with the vital community-based service organizations that are on the frontlines."

"AIDS is a global crisis and a New York City tragedy," said Health Commissioner Frieden. "But New York City can lead the way nationally and internationally in effective and integrated HIV prevention and care in stopping the AIDS epidemic. Every New Yorker who has been sexually active should know their HIV status. Whether you are HIV-negative or HIV-positive, everyone has a personal responsibility in controlling the future of this epidemic."

"As part of the Mayor’s commitment to better serving people with AIDS, I look forward to working with Coordinator Oldham and Commissioner Frieden on a plan to continue the improvements we’ve made to HRA’s HIV/AIDS Services Administration," said HRA Commissioner Eggleston said. "We will work tirelessly to meet the challenge of developing a model at HASA, and throughout the City, of HIV/AIDS service delivery worthy of replication nationwide."

To implement the City’s plan, the Mayor appointed Frank Oldham, Jr. Citywide Coordinator for AIDS Policy in the Mayor’s Office of AIDS Policy Coordination in January 2002. Oldham reports directly to Deputy Mayor for Policy Dennis Walcott and is the third Citywide Coordinator since the Office’s inception in 1991. Oldham is the Mayor’s liaison and coordinator to the HIV/AIDS community and all City agencies that offer HIV/AIDS services. He also serves as governmental co-chair to the Ryan White Title I HIV Health and Human Services Planning Council of New York City.

Frank Oldham is a native New Yorker, who started his work in the fight against AIDS at Gay Men’s Health Crisis in 1988. In addition to nine years of experience working in the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Bureau of HIV Prevention Services, Oldham has served as Chief of the Agency for HIV/AIDS for the District of Columbia, and most recently as Assistant Commissioner for the Division of STD/HIV/AIDS for the Chicago Department of Public Health. Oldham earned a BA from New York University and grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn.

"I have charged Frank with the task of leading in developing and implementing the most comprehensive AIDS service plan in our City’s history," said Mayor Bloomberg. "This plan will involve all City agencies as well as our community partners, and I will call upon them to act with urgency to make a constructive difference for all New Yorkers as we enter the third decade of this human tragedy as the nation’s epicenter of the AIDS health crisis."

The Mayor’s strategy calls for using the cutting edge tools of HIV/AIDS science to better understand populations that are at-risk today. For example, New York City will be among the first cities to widely implement a state-of-the-art blood test called the "Detuned Assay," that tests if a person has been infected within the last six months. This will provide invaluable information for prevention planning, and will pinpoint which communities are experiencing increases in infection rates, and thus, which prevention strategies are working and which are not. And it will enable the City to measure our progress towards the CDC’s goal of 50% fewer HIV transmissions by 2005.

Improving coordination between City agencies and providers will be the focus of the second component of the City’s plan. New York supports more services for people with HIV/AIDS than any other city in the United States. The City’s HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA) serves 31,000 clients with HIV and AIDS, as well as providing related support to 14,000 of their family members who are affected by the disease. The Health and Hospitals Corporation provides medical care to more than 19,000 people living with HIV/AIDS. DOHMH funds more than two hundred community-based organizations that provide New Yorkers with AIDS and HIV with a wide range of prevention, care and treatment programs.

The Mayor also addressed the need to review the legislation that governs New York City’s HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA) program, which was created in 1985 early in the AIDS epidemic. To address the past problems with HASA, AIDS Policy Coordinator Oldham will oversee the restructuring of HASA to meet the needs of the HIV/AIDS community in the 21st century, and will work closely with HRA Commissioner Verna Eggleston to achieve that end.

New York City is the home to over 100,000 people living with HIV or AIDS. Recently, the CDC’s reported a one percent increase in AIDS cases nationwide, and warned that the U.S. HIV/AIDS epidemic may be on the rise again. More people were diagnosed with the disease in 2001 than any year since 1998.

With approximately 3% of the country’s population, New York City has reported approximately 16% of the nation’s HIV and AIDS cases. Advances in antiretroviral medications have increased survival time and decreased mortality rates of those with HIV/AIDS. However, HIV is still the leading cause of death of New Yorkers between 25 and 44 years of age, and the fourth leading cause of death in New York City overall.

The 11th Annual CPLS for HIV prevention is a convention where community planners from around the country gather to explore the changing needs of HIV prevention programming in the U.S. There are workshops, institutes, and other educational sessions that focus on community planning, effective prevention strategies, emerging trends, issues, and challenges confronting community leaders.