The Maricopa Integrated Health System is joining a national movement to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as Maricopa County is one of 48 counties with the highest rate of new infections in the U.S.

The director of the McDowell HIV/AIDS Healthcare Center, said the goal of having no new infections by that year is doable, but difficult.

Speaking on PBS’s “Arizona Horizon,” Dr. Ann Khalsa said the message of practicing safe sex isn’t getting out there. “There’s too many youngsters who are coming in thinking ‘eh,’ it’s the old guys, or it’s not me. Prevention funding and coverage and initiatives just haven’t infiltrated the community enough.”

Khalsa said the state’s Medicaid program will soon make the anti-AIDS medicine Truvada available for its recipients.

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