During its May 2005 meeting, CHAC stressed the need to identify reasons for not achieving the overarching goal (i.e., to reduce new HIV infections in the U.S. by 50% by 2005, with a focus on eliminating racial/ethnic disparities) of the national HIV Prevention Strategic Plan. The CHAC also expressed a strong interest in updating the Plan and, therefore, unanimously passed a motion to form a Work Group to facilitate this effort.

At that time, the CHAC decided to restrict the focus of its review and proposed update of the Plan to four of the five goals established in 2001. “Global HIV” was not to be included because other agencies have developed international activities since that time to address this goal. The CHAC recommended that CDC not develop a new Plan at this point. Instead, the Work Group was tasked with the following responsibilities:

1. Provide advice on ways to update the existing Plan to guide CDC and its federal partners in formulating new strategies, activities, and directions to reduce HIV infection in the United States.
2. Develop recommendations for HIV prevention programs, surveillance and research that can reduce HIV incidence based on current resources and the best available science.
3. Review the existing Plan to identify limitations or flaws in previous HIV prevention activities, missed opportunities in establishing priorities, and actions to advance the Plan in the future.
4. Determine whether the overarching goal to reduce new HIV infections in the United States by 50% is feasible and realistic based on available resources.

A small committee (of ten people), comprised of CHAC members, CDC staff, and external partners, was formed in July, 2005 to (1) identify work group members who would have responsibility for developing recommendations, (2) develop a process for gathering input from the work group, and (3) plan a face-to-face meeting for deliberating about recommendations that would be submitted to the CHAC. The committee was chaired by CHAC co-chair, Dr. Jean McGuire. CDC appointed Dr. George Roberts to serve as its co-chair. After several conference calls, the committee identified more than 30 individuals to join the previously identified members of the committee to serve as the HIV Prevention Strategic Plan Work Group (see Appendix A for a list of participants).

The Work Group met face-to-face twice: first on October 24-25, 2005; and then on May 4-5, 2006. Additional communications occurred during conference calls, e-mails, and intermittent mailings. The Workgroup received information about CDC’s current activities relating to the Strategic Plan, as well as samples of relevant articles and reports for their review and consideration. The following report provides a synthesis of the thematic discussions and recommendations that resulted over the course of the two face-to-face meetings.