This has been a week of behind-the-scenes prep as we – like many of you – geared up for the U.S. Conference on HIV/AIDS (USCHA) in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which kicks off today. Over the past few months, we have experienced an unprecedented level of collaboration and partnership with public health, HIV, LGBTQ+, and medical organizations to show a united front in response to the MPV outbreak. USCHA is an opportunity to finally see and meet many of these partners in 3D. In a way, however, this makes for a boring update: we printed, packed, and prepped.

NCSD will participate in two main MPV actions at USCHA. On Monday, October 10 at 6:30 PM, NCSD, AIDS United, NASTAD, NMAC, NASTAD and The AIDS Institute are partnering to host a Monkeypox Town Hall on Monday, October 10, at 6:30 PM. This event will also be livestreamed on Facebook for those not in attendance.

NCSD will be circulating a sign-on letter on behalf of our partners addressing the MPV outbreak. Any individual or organization can sign on asking Congress to include $4.5 billion dollars for the MPV response—as requested by the White House—in their Fiscal Year 2023 funding package.

We’ll be back from Puerto Rico in time for next week’s MPV Working Group meeting.