Soc 12/22198 United States Department of State Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs Washington, D.C. 20520-7261 Dear Friend, Every region of the world has been affected by the devastation caused by HIV/AIDS. As the numbers of new infections continue to rise, we face the enormous challenge of developing more effective approaches to dealing with this pandemic. The U.S. International Strategy on HIV/AIDS is designed to assist U.S. government efforts in meeting the challenge. The Strategy is an interagency effort led by the Department of State. Representatives from the Departments of Health and Human Services, Defense, Commerce, Education, Labor, Justice, as well as USAID, Peace Corps, the intelligence community, and the National AIDS Policy Director worked in close collaboration in the development of this report. The result is a Strategy which contains a set of priorities for action which all relevant U.S. agencies will work to achieve. In this effort, I was particularly pleased to have the full participation of over twenty non-governmental groups including representatives from the AIDS activist community, health service providers, the business community and people living with HIV/AIDS. I look forward to a more comprehensive effort to prevent new HIV infections and mitigate the impact of AIDS. In this Strategy, we now have a plan of action. |