Vice Admiral Raquel Bono, Director for the Defense Health Agency (DHA) www.health.mil/dha recently visited the Naval Health Research Center (NHRC) www.med.navy.mil/sites/nhrc to discuss the transition of the DOD HIV/AIDS Prevention Program (DHAPP) from Navy Medicine to the DHA.
DHAPP was established in 2001 to help during the global health threat posed by the HIV pandemic with the goal to assist foreign militaries develop HIV control programs. Since DHAPP’s founding, NHRC has managed DHAPP due to the command’s expertise in HIV research and development.
DHAPP team provides a range of education, training, health promotion, and intervention services to international militaries. DHAPP also trains military personnel in selected non-US military countries to implement, maintain, and evaluate HIV prevention programs.
Bono’s visit enabled her to learn more about DHAPP operations and meet with the staff before the transition to DHA is completed in late August. Bono explained that putting DHAPP under DHA’s leadership will enable broader opportunities for interagency partnerships to expand and also to work more closely with DOD’s combatant commands.
Bono said, “She is very interested in how DHAPP can work with the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch and the Global Emerging Infections Surveillance section in order to broaden the military’s effectiveness in advancing global public health.”
In addition to DOD, additional U.S government efforts to prevent HIV/AIDS operate under two other agencies. These agencies include the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) www.usaid.gov and the HHS Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)www.cdc.gov working to determine how HIV is transmitted and educating the public on how to prevent HIV.
The HHS Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) www.hrsa.gov has broad experience providing health and social service to help vulnerable children and individuals and families affected by HIV/AIDS.
Go to www.med.navy.mil/sites/nhrc/Pages/Research-DOD-Prevention-Program.aspx for information on the DOD HIV/AIDS Prevention Program (DHAPP).