Thirty Three Days and Counting. Where's our AIDS Czar?

A while back in a previous post, I asked the question, Does that leave us with Gregg Pane (pictured left) as our new AIDS Czar/DOH head?.

To clarify, that was a rhetorical question and the answer is NO! Because obviously nobody can be the head of the Department of Health and a full time AIDS Czar simultaneously.

I regret the wording, however, because I see the Examiner has set the dangerous precedent of referring to Gregg Pane as the AIDS Czar in a recent article. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Let me make a couple points about this article that need to be said.

First, as head of the Department of Health, Gregg Pane has been the man ultimately responsible for the operations of the HIV/AIDS Administration ever since he was first appointed as Acting Director in August of 2004. Nothing has changed in this regard.

Second, nobody can simultaneously hold two full-time jobs. Gregg Pane simply can't be both a full time head of the DOH and a full time AIDS Czar. He needs to hire a full time, competent and qualified individual to assume leadership of the HIV/AIDS Administration. He simply is not going to be able to accomplish part-time what others have failed to accomplish full-time.

Third, the goals Pane has set for the HIV/AIDS Administration are nothing new. In fact, they are terribly similar to many of the goals laid out by Marsha Martin. We had a previous goal of distributing a million condoms, which we did not meet (Pane's new goal is lowered to 250,000). We had a previous goal for HIV testing which we did not meet.

The challenge is not setting goals, the challenge is in actually accomplishing them; a view that was eloquently stated by Raymond Blanks in his op-ed Between Promises and Performance.

I seriously doubt we can do this without a full time, dedicated Director for the HIV/AIDS Administration. Thirty three days and counting. Where's our AIDS Czar?