In South Bend, the mayor’s office runs a blood drive. It’s one of the things that we’ve traditionally done, which I inherited when I became mayor. And I remember the moment when I realized that — unlike most initiatives I spearhead — I couldn’t lead by example, because my blood’s not welcome in this country.

My inability to participate in a modest civic effort is one small consequence of a nationwide pattern created by decades-old ignorance and bigotry. As the AIDS epidemic accelerated in the 1980s, the federal government shifted from quite literally laughing off the epidemic to panicking about it. Before long, laws were passed restricting gay men from donating blood — regardless of HIV status. Travelers with HIV/AIDS were banned from even entering the United States.

Prejudice and fear, not science, drove policy. Policy drove people into the shadows. And those driven into the shadows too often died from the virus.

“By the time America paid attention to the disease,” wrote Randy Shilts, the foremost chronicler of the AIDS epidemic, “it was too late to do anything about it.” Since the onset of the epidemic, more than 700,000 Americans have lost their lives to AIDS. Among them was Randy Shilts.

Yet as we mark World AIDS Day, there is great cause for hope. Increasingly, America has been paying attention to this deadly disease, and doing something about it. After years where our government would hardly even acknowledge those living with and dying of AIDS, President Barack Obama ended the travel ban and loosened restrictions on donating blood. Researchers have developed lifesaving medications that can alter the course of the epidemic. Americans living with HIV/AIDS — from icons like Magic Johnson to organizers on my own campaign — have advocated on behalf of themselves and others battling the disease.

At the same time, the benefits of those advances have been deeply unequal. Black people make up 13 percent of the American population, yet almost half of new HIV diagnoses. Latino gay and bisexual men are the only demographic group with a rising number of HIV diagnoses. New HIV cases are concentrated in Southern states, primarily in Georgia, Florida, and Louisiana. It will take serious and intentional action to remedy not only the disease but the discrimination that helps perpetuate it. But that is precisely the opportunity before us in this moment.

We stand on the verge of a new era — the beginning of the end of AIDS. My White House will will commit to ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2030. We will restore American leadership at home and abroad. We will re-establish the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, and update the National HIV/AIDS Strategy. The U.S. will once more champion international institutions, partnerships, and programming aimed at ending epidemics globally. This includes expanding funding for PEPFAR and the Global Fund, and rolling back the Mexico City policy that conditions U.S. assistance on stifling family planning services.

Through this renewed leadership, we will guarantee that every American living with HIV has access to treatment and gets the support they need to stay in treatment. PrEP therapies are a critical tool for ending the epidemic, yet less than 10 percent of those who could benefit from PrEP are currently using it. So we will ensure universal and affordable health care coverage through our plan for Medicare For All Who Want It, and require all insurance plans to cover PrEP and related screening and monitoring services. This will be particularly important in the southern states that have not expanded Medicaid but have the highest rates of new HIV diagnoses. Those who are uninsured and under-insured will have access to special federal funding for PrEP, and continued support from the Ryan White Program and the Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS Program.

Recognizing the prohibitive cost of PrEP — $1,600 a month in the U.S., compared to only $70 a month in some countries — my administration will pursue aggressive price negotiations to lower costs. If those negotiations fail, we are prepared to exercise eminent domain on PrEP-related patents, as we will consider doing to bring down drug prices across the board.

We will ensure access to prevention services, such as condoms and risk reduction programs, and make them more broadly available through community organizations, health centers, and schools. These will target populations particularly at risk, especially young gay men and transgender women. And as we continue to battle the opioid and methamphetamine epidemics, we’ll support evidence-based harm reduction, including removing restrictions on syringe services programs and permitting states to develop safe injection sites.

We will likewise invest in finding a cure for HIV. While new treatments can dramatically transform the trajectory of the disease, we must continue searching for a cure and a preventive vaccine. To spur these breakthroughs, we will restore funding for domestic HIV/AIDS research, which has been slashed since 2016.

Finally, we will work to combat discrimination around HIV/AIDS. In keeping with our campaign’s commitment to tackle systemic racism with a Douglass Plan for Black America, my administration will pay particular attention to the racial and geographic disparities among transgender women of color and Black and Latino gay men in the South. That means decriminalizing HIV transmission, which can jeopardize whether someone gets the care they need. It means providing high-quality care and treatment to incarcerated people living with HIV, and lifting restrictions on military service for those with the virus. And when there are still restrictions on donating blood, it means ending that blanket ban and basing public health decisions on science and not stigma.

After meeting with several AIDS activists this past June, I stood beneath the soaring AIDS Memorial in New York City, my husband by my side. Surrounded by LGBTQ+ activists pushing us to further incorporate the realities of their struggle into our policies, I thought about what we’ve lost and how far we’ve come. I thought about how close we are to getting this right — to ending HIV/AIDS and shaping an America defined not by exclusion, but by belonging. That will be a core commitment of my presidency in keeping with the tradition of those who have fought this epidemic with their tears, sweat, and blood.