HRSA Celebrates the 33rd Anniversary of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program
Posted August 31, 2023Content From: Laura Cheever, MD, ScM, Physician and Associate Administrator, HIV/AIDS Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration
Published: August 25, 2023
Last week, on August 18, we celebrated the 33rd anniversary of the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP). On that day in 1990, Congress passed the groundbreaking Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act. The Program was named after the Indiana teen and AIDS advocate Ryan White, who lost his life to AIDS in April 1990.
This legislation created the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP), the largest Federal program focused exclusively on providing HIV primary medical care, medication, and essential support services to approximately half of people with diagnosed HIV in the U.S. each year. In 2021, more than 576,000 people received services through the program. As a result, in 2021, 89.7 percent of our program clients receiving HIV medical care were virally suppressed, exceeding the national average of 64.6 percent. Taking HIV medication as prescribed and reaching viral suppression means that a person can live a long, healthy life and cannot transmit HIV to their partner.
Click here to read more about HRSA’s 33 Anniversary of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program
