Alison Yager joined HIV Law Project in 2006 as a Staff Attorney, and is currently Supervising Attorney in HIV Policy. She has been advocating on behalf of women, children and families for over fifteen years. Ms. Yager began her career at the Children's Defense Fund - New York where she focused on child health issues. She subsequently spent a year in Mexico working with indigenous women who were struggling for safety in their homes and basic civil rights. During law school she provided legal services to homeless and runaway youth as well as garment workers in Los Angeles. After graduating from UCLA School of Law’s Program in Public Interest Law and Policy in 2001, Ms. Yager provided legal services to young people as a National Association of Public Interest Law (NAPIL, now Equal Justice Works) Fellow at The Door's Legal Service Center in Manhattan. She then represented young survivors of dating violence at Break the Cycle- New York (now Day One).
Ms. Yager is responsible for producing policy publications, monitoring and responding to significant and emerging policy issues through advocacy and outreach to allies, decision-makers, and media.
Though the mainstream media’s virtual silence on the issue suggests otherwise, the HIV epidemic continues to rage in the U.S., and African Americans and blacks are those hardest hit.
December 1st is World AIDS Day, a time to recognize those who live with HIV, to honor those who’ve died, and to come together in the fight against HIV/AIDS. In recent years HIV science and medicine have taken monumental leaps forward, but Hillary Clinton’s now oft-repeated goal of an AIDS-free generation will remain unattainable without on-going fiscal support for critical HIV/AIDS programs.
President Obama’s proposed budget, released last month, was reasonably true to his Administration’s commitment to working toward an AIDS-free generation. But a major disappointment is the proposed cut to the Ryan White Part D budget, the only Part of the program that serves the unique needs of women, children, youth and families–and the only part of the Program to take a hit.
This year, the theme of World AIDS Day is “Getting to Zero: Zero New HIV Infections. Zero Discrimination and Zero AIDS Related Deaths.” In order to get to zero, we must be clear that now is not the time to cut back on essential services, even in the face of fiscal austerity.
Earlier this week, New York City announced that all public middle and high schools must provide a semester of sex education in 6th or 7th grade, and again in 9th or 10th grade. HIV-positive women worked for several years to make this happen.
HIV testing represents one of the most potent weapons in the fight against HIV. Yet too many individuals who may be at risk of infection continue to avoid testing. This reluctance to test is driven in part by the pervasiveness of HIV stigma.
The findings of a study released last Thursday by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) suggest major policy implications for the fight against HIV and AIDS, indicating that United States legislators and pharmaceutical companies should ensure universal access to HIV care and treatment now.
Black Americans are at the intersection of high rates of HIV and high rates of poverty. As a result, cuts to services are acutely felt by Black Americans living with HIV/AIDS.
June 27 is National HIV Testing Day. This year, HIV Law Project and many of our allies are focused on making HIV testing routine, and toward this end to ensure health care providers are reimbursed by insurers for it.
Compelling HIV testing runs the risk of alienating patients from their medical care provider, and in turn driving them from care.
