COSSA Joins the Call for OAR Working Group on HIV/Substance Use Disorders Research
COSSA joined organizations representing the “range of scientific, professional, and patient organizations committed to the elimination of substance use disorders and addiction through education, advocacy, and the promotion of broad public and private support for HIV/AIDS and substance use research agendas of the National Institutes of Health [NIH]” on a letter to Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in response to the fiscal year (FY) 2016 Trans-NIH Plan for HIV-Related Research. The letter expresses concern “that the priorities overall and those specific to behavioral and social sciences, in particular, downplay the critical importance of reducing drug abuse to prevent the spread of HIV infection.” The letter’s signatories “strongly urge the OAR [NIH Office of AIDS Research] to establish a Working Group under the auspices of the OAR Advisory Council to develop guidelines for prevention and treatment of HIV in this ever-growing high-risk population” of individuals with substance use disorders. The NIH released its new HIV/AIDS Research Priorities and Guidelines for Determining AIDS Funding in August 2015 (see Update, December 15, 2015).