Physicians, Health Providers and Researchers Call on Presidential Candidates to Back Funding, Preparedness and Evidence-based Responses to Infectious Diseases, HIV

In a bipartisan-aimed petition, more than 500 members of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, its HIV Medicine Association and the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society are calling on all presidential candidates to commit themselves to public health policies, programs, and investments necessary to protect the lives and health of Americans and reduce the impact of infectious diseases globally, including from the threats of growing and emerging infectious diseases, vaccine preventable diseases, infections increasingly resistant to existing treatments, as well as from the impacts of climate change.

Urging strong stances, support and funding for public health measures against leading domestic and global health challenges, the signers urge White House aspirants to articulate their priorities for tackling infectious diseases opportunities and threats, including with interventions to:

• Increase vaccine access and uptake;
• Strengthen responses to the opioid crisis and associated infectious disease impacts;
• Build antibiotic stewardship, research and development; 
• Sustain U.S. leadership of global HIV and TB responses, while enhancing global health security efforts;
• Expand interventions to reverse increased rates of sexually transmitted diseases;
• Use existing tools to end the HIV epidemic and eliminate hepatitis C virus in America;
• Confront climate change;
• And build the infectious diseases and HIV trained health workforce necessary to meet these challenges.

The full petition, with further information on infectious diseases priorities and actions, is here.