IPS research shows the US public holds more common ground in their views on health inequities than we might think. Thanks to Lara Salahi @AHCJ for highlighting this work: https://bit.ly/3SdcUyM

As false narratives increasingly add to US Latino uncertainty & harm, it is even more vital to ground dicussions in science. Our July Policy Rx covers CLAFH work in @nejm.org, examining how false narratives obscure US Latino contributions, threatening Latino & nation health: https://bit.ly/4pSii6M

At AIDS 2026 last week, responsibility and accountability were central. As donor funding contracts, countries must lead their HIV responses—but wealthy nations, global institutions and industry must ensure transitions are fair, funded and protect people and hard-won gains.

I’m inspired by HIV prevention & treatment advances explored at last week’s AIDS 2026, like long-acting twice-yearly lenacapavir & AI across the continuum. But innovation without access is injustice. Ending AIDS means pairing science w/ policies & systems to reach all, including the most impacted.

Some of Thursday’s most powerful experiences at AIDS 2026 occurred beyond formal presentations, in the Global Village. Science gives us essential evidence and tools. Art helps create the empathy, urgency and public will required to use them. To end HIV and eliminate health inequities, we need both.

Thursday’s AIDS 2026 session, 'Breaking the Inequality Cycle Driving Ebola, AIDS, COVID and Beyond' reinforced truth that should reshape public health: inequalities do not only influence who is harmed by a pandemic. They determine if outbreaks become longer, deadlier and more difficult to control.

Thursday’s AIDS 2026 plenary offered powerful lessons. Sanjay Pujar presented on integrating clinical strategies for HIV, tuberculosis & noncommunicable disease. Paula Luz shared a reminder that unjust, preventable health inequities are pervasive because they are produced by policy & systems design.

Paulie Amanita Calderon-Cifuentes’s AIDS 2026 presentation on ensuring gender-affirming care access offered lessons extending beyond any one country or population. I was especially struck by parallels between invisibility experienced by transgender people globally & the invisibility of US Latinos.

Join IPS virtually Sept. 23 for the 2026 Health Equity in Action Summit: Collective Power for Community Health co-hosted by @Pfizer Multicultural Health Equity Collective & @NHCSL. Virtual attendees can access these keynotes & plenaries: 9-10:45 am, 1:15-2:15 pm & 4:15-4:45 pm ET: heiasummit.com

Raphael Landovitz’s AIDS 2026 'PrEP 2026: State of the ART' was inspiring & sobering. Science brings a wealth of PrEP options for HIV prevention. But discovery ≠ delivery. Funding cuts threaten uptake & progress. We can't celebrate breakthroughs while making access harder for the most affected.

This week at #AIDS2026 CLAFH.org presented 2 posters highlighting the US Latino HIV crisis: 'The Cost of Invisibility: Federal Policy Failures and the Cascading Latino HIV Crisis in the U.S.' & 'Invisible and Forgotten: Increasing Anti-Latino Sentiment Fuels the U.S. HIV Epidemic'

Adam Benzekri, MPH, MS, presented CLAFH.org research published in @nejm.org at #IAS2026 in Rio de Janeiro on the impact of increasing anti-Latino sentiment in worsening the US Latino HIV epidemic: https://nursing.jhu.edu/institute-for-policy-solutions-at-the-johns-hopkins-school-of-nursing/clafh/

As the US marks its 250th, we must reflect on if the promise of America extends to all. Our proximity to patients & families uniquely positions nurses to recognize the health impacts of false narratives about US Latinos & lead the response: https://nurse.org/news/nurses-latino-health-crisis-opinion/

Latinos are not peripheral to US future. They are helping build it every day as workers, caregivers, entrepreneurs, students, taxpayers, voters & community leaders. Read now in HealthMedicinet: https://healthmedicinet.com/analysis-latinos-indispensable-nation-prosperity/

False narratives often portray Latinos as outsiders or burdens. Latinos are essential to US health, economy, workforce, democracy & future. Correcting false narratives is not only about accuracy. It's about protecting Latino health, dignity & opportunity—strengthening wellbeing for all: clafh.org

Congrats IPS N-SISS Fellow Julian Gallegos on being named an American Association for Men in Nursing Fellow. Learn more about IPS N-SISS: https://nursing.jhu.edu/institute-for-policy-solutions-at-the-johns-hopkins-school-of-nursing/trainings/nursing-science-incubator-for-sdoh-solutions-n-siss/

Thanks @nytimes for publishing "A Latino American Public Health Emergency": https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/opinion/immigration-latinos-health.html We can't overlook the effects of the increasingly hostile climate toward US Latinos. Visit CLAFH.org to view research recently documented in @NEJM.

Anti-Latino rhetoric is not just harmful language. False narratives can fuel profiling, exclusion, discriminatory policies & hostility that shape conditions in which Latino communities live and work. When false narratives harm Latino health, they weaken the nation's health. Learn more: clafh.org

Latinos help sustain the US health system. They represent >25% of home health aides & >20% of personal care aides, & serve as nurses, physicians & other skilled health professionals. Latino people are not economically burdening the health system; they are helping hold it together. More at clafh.org

False narratives obscure the indispensable role Latino communities play in the U.S. economy, workforce, health system, and democracy. The facts tell the real story. Learn more at clafh.org

Recognize Latino contributions and review programs, policies, and practices to ensure they reflect the evidence: Latinos are indispensable to U.S. health, economic prosperity, and the country’s future. Learn more at clafh.org

Latino workers help build, care for, feed, serve, and sustain the United States. Correcting false narratives means recognizing Latino workers as indispensable contributors to the systems and services everyone relies on. Learn more at clafh.org

Pleased to host JHSON’s Pathway to PhD 2026 cohort at our summer IPS Open House! Getting future leaders in nursing science, education, and practice excited about eliminating health inequities to repair our broken U.S. health system is crucial to advancing IPS mission. Learn more at IPSnow.org

From direct care and family caregiving to nursing, medicine, public health, and health financing, Latino workers, caregivers, and taxpayers are essential to keeping communities healthy. Learn more at clafh.org

Latinos are not outsiders to the United States. Latino communities are deeply rooted in the country’s families, workplaces, schools, health systems, neighborhoods, and civic life. Share the facts. Correct the narrative. Learn more at clafh.org

Too often, public narratives frame Latinos as outsiders. But nearly 8 in 10 US Latinos are citizens—by birth or through naturalization. Latinos are insiders, deeply rooted in US families, schools, workplaces, neighborhoods, health systems, & civic life. Learn more at clafh.org @kffhealthnews.org

Thanks @rgrapevine.bsky.social for excellent coverage of our May IPS Convening on strategies to strengthen health inequities reporting at the 2026 AHCJ conference: https://healthjournalism.org/blog/2026/07/in-the-u-s-theres-more-consensus-on-health-care-than-headlines-suggest/ For more: IPSNow.org

Congrats IPS Affiliate Christina Marea, PhD, MA, MSN, FACNM, Assistant Professor, Georgetown School of Nursing, on her AAN Fellows selection. IPS Affiliates: https://nursing.jhu.edu/institute-for-policy-solutions-at-the-johns-hopkins-school-of-nursing/institute-for-policy-solutions-ips-affiliates/

IPS & CLAFH invite you to join us in recognizing indispensable US Latino contributions, correcting false narratives about them, & advancing solutions to eliminate inequities threatening the health & future of Latinos & the nation. Access our toolkit in English & Spanish: https://bit.ly/4gSYOwo

Latinos are not peripheral to U.S. future. They help build it daily as workers, caregivers, entrepreneurs, students, taxpayers, voters & community leaders. U.S. health & prosperity depends on Latinos having the opportunity, safety, dignity, & resources they deserve to thrive. More at CLAFH.org.