🏳️‍🌈✝️🔻 Did Trump Pull the Plug on ONAP & PACHA?

By: Brandon M. Macsata, CEO, ADAP Advocacy Association

10/05/2018

____________________________________________________________________________________ 

The ADAP Advocacy Association has learned from a highly credible source that the Trump Administration will not fill the vacant director position at the Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP), nor will appointments be made for the Presidential Advisory Commission on HIV/AIDS (PACHA). These important leadership roles have remained unfilled since President Barack Obama left the White House.

Earlier this year the ADAP Advocacy Association called for the appointment of an ONAP director after Amy Lansky, ONAP's last-serving director, stepped down. Subsequently, it has been an issue at the center of our advocacy efforts, including a previous ADAP Blog. It should really come as no surprise that the Trump Administration, which has proven itself to not be friendly to the HIV/AIDS community, would leave ONAP vacant. 

Equally troubling is how the Trump Administration solicited nominations for PACHA, only to file them in the trash. It begs the question: Is there no regard for our community’s input into this nation’s public health response to the ongoing epidemic here in the United States?