President Joe Biden introduced a new national strategy to combat the disease of World AIDS, with the high aim of eliminating the epidemic in the United States by the start of the next decade.

The White House has announced a “whole-of-society” policy that integrates the most up-to-date data, prevalence, and trends and places a greater emphasis on addressing social determinants that influence HIV risks and outcomes.

“We are within striking distance of eliminating HIV transmission,” Biden said during remarks at the White House

According to officials, the 98-page strategy is expected to re-energize the administration’s commitment to eliminating the HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2030

It also encourages state-level HIV criminal law reforms and places a fresh emphasis on setting up the private sector to help fight HIV and AIDS.

He also said “It’s a plan to make sure that the latest advances in HIV prevention, diagnosis, and treatment are available to everyone regardless of race, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or other factors. It shouldn’t matter where you live in the country or how much you make,”

The White House noted that more than 700,000 people have died of AIDS in the United States in the four decades since it was first discovered. The worldwide figure is 36 million. About 1.2 million Americans are estimated to be living with HIV.

Read more: AIDS: Years of research but still no vaccine

Biden continued “Critically, this strategy takes on racial and gender disparities in our health system that for much too long have affected HIV outcomes in our country — to ensure that our national response is a truly equitable response,”

A senior administration official told reporters that Biden “pledged to update and implement the nation’s comprehensive HIV/AIDS strategy to ‘aggressively reduce new HIV cases while increasing our access to treatment and eliminating inequitable access to medical and support services.'”

The official said “The strategy gives us that framework for the directions and policies and also reflects President Biden’s commitment to accelerate and strengthen the national response to ending the HIV epidemic,”

According to the official “As a founding member the United States will ensure that the establishment of the Global Fund and the replenishment serve to accelerate the progress, again, to end the HIV epidemic by the year 2030,”

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