Andrew Cuomo
Governor Andrew Cuomo promotes Bending the Curve
“Thirty years ago, New York was the epicenter of the AIDS crisis—today I am proud to announce that we are in a position to be the first state in the nation committed to ending this epidemic.” Thus spoke Governor Andrew Cuomo this summer as he announced a three-point program called Bending the Curve. It entails (1) identifying undiagnosed people with HIV and linking them to care, (2) retaining people in care and on meds so their virus is undetectable and less likely to transmit, and (3) providing those at high risk for HIV with access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) so they’ll stay negative. In the last decade, the state has seen a 40 percent drop in new infections—to about 3,000 diagnoses a year.
Although some activists bristled at the Big Brother aspect of “identifying and tracking” people with HIV, most praised Bending the Curve’s potential to help usher in the end of AIDS.