What will it take to end the HIV epidemic within a decade?

Just a year and half ago, the Department of Health and Human Services launched an ambitious program with the goal of stopping the spread of HIV by 2030. "Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America" called for expanding existing HIV programs and also responding to the clinical, ethical, social and cultural forces that impinge on patients living with HIV, including stigma and oppression.

The May issue of AMA Journal of Ethics^® (@JournalofEthics) explores the challenges of this lofty goal, focusing on the ethical and clinical complexities that patients and physicians encounter in HIV care. It also offers CME credit.

Articles include:

1. How Should Clinicians Respond if Patient HIV Denial Could Exacerbate Racial Health Inequities?

   Deception's justifiability might depend on clinicians' commitment to solidarity and awareness of social determinants of patients' vulnerability to HIV infection.

2. Are Financial Incentives Appropriate Means of Encouraging Medication Adherence Among People Living With HIV?

   Financial incentives have been shown to improve antiretroviral adherence for people living with HIV, but some say offering them commodifies HIV care.

3. AMA Code of Medical Ethics' Opinions Related to "Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America" 

   The AMA Code of Medical Ethics offers guidance on HIV screening that expresses respect for patient autonomy while protecting public health.

4. Is "Undetectable = Untransmissible" Good Public Health Messaging?

   Merits and drawbacks of U = U messaging are ethically and clinically complex, and drawbacks could harm patients in whom viral suppression is hard to achieve.

Learn with the AMA about the challenges of being older and HIV positive amid the pandemic, and read about how older Americans with HIV face a second pandemic in COVID-19.

In the journal's May podcast, Olivia S. Kates, MD, an infectious diseases fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle, and Monica Gandhi, MD, MPH, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, discuss equity and public health messaging in ending the HIV epidemic.

Listen to previous episodes of the podcast, "Ethics Talk," or subscribe in iTunes or other services.

These AMA Journal of Ethics CME modules are each designated by the AMA for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™:

• Is "Undetectable = Untransmissible" Good Public Health Messaging?
• Exceptionalism at the End of AIDS

Additionally, the CME module "Ethics Talk: Public Health Messaging Design and Epidemic Management" is designated by the AMA for a maximum of 0.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™.

The offering is part of the AMA Ed Hub™, an online learning platform that brings together high-quality CME, maintenance of certification, and educational content—in one place—with relevant learning activities, automated credit tracking and reporting for some states and specialty boards.

The journal's editorial focus is on commentaries and articles that offer practical advice and insights for medical students and physicians. Submit a manuscript for publication. The journal also invites original photographs, graphics, cartoons, drawings and paintings that explore the ethical dimensions of health or health care.

Upcoming issues of the AMA Journal of Ethics will focus on transgenerational trauma, illness invisibility and immeasurability, and economic decision modeling in health care. Sign up to receive email alerts when new issues are published.