Brief: A Renewed Commitment Is Needed To Strengthen and Expand the Minority AIDS Initiative (MAI)

In 1998, Congress created the Minority AIDS Initiative (MAI) in response to the highly disproportionate impact of HIV in Black and Latinx communities and the inadequate investments and support for community-based responses in these communities. Despite some progress since then, the share of new diagnoses among people of color has still grown. The MAI’s primary goal was to expand access to HIV services in the most heavily impacted communities by building the capacity of communities themselves to deliver effective HIV services and reduce the large and persistent racial and ethnic disparities observed across HIV metrics. Today, stagnant funding, limited interest from policymakers, and incomplete knowledge about the program and how it fits into the overall HIV response is holding it back from achieving its goals. This brief address four issues, and by doing so, may provide a pathway for reinvigorating the MAI.

Read the Big Ideas in Brief here.

Read the Big Ideas here.