WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama is announcing a new

national strategy for combatting HIV and AIDS aimed at helping

reduce the number of infections and providing those living with the

virus high-quality care free from stigma or discrimination.

The strategy calls for reducing the rate of new HIV infections

by 25 percent over the next five years, and for getting treatment

to 85 percent of patients within three months of their diagnosis.

Administration officials, including Health and Human Services

Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and domestic policy chairwoman Melody

Barnes, were to unveil the strategy at the White House on Tuesday.

Obama was to discuss the strategy at a reception honoring the work

of the HIV and AIDS community later in the day.

"This is a moment of opportunity for the nation," Obama said

in a report to be released Tuesday. "Now is the time to build on

and refocus our existing efforts to deliver better results for the

American people."

The report is the result of more than a year of discussions

between the administration, state and local officials, advocacy

groups and the private sector. While the strategy calls for

improved coordination among federal agencies, it doesn't identify

any new government money to implement the strategy.

Approximately 56,000 people in the U.S. become infected each

year with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and more than 1.1.

million Americans are living with the HIV, according to the White

House.

The new policy will concentrate HIV prevention efforts at the

highest-risk populations, which include gay and bisexual men as

well as black Americans, far more than is done today, said Chris

Collins of the Foundation for AIDS Research, one of the groups that

met with administration officials.

That means finding creative ways to spread successful local

programs that help HIV-negative people stay that way, as well as

providing education and treatment for people who are living with

HIV to reduce their chances of spreading the virus, Collins said.

The strategy also aims to copy some of the steps credited with

spurring the success of a Bush-era policy to fight AIDS in hard-hit

developing countries. That includes setting specific targets and

mandating coordination among different government agencies to guard

against missteps and wasted, duplicated efforts.

"We've never had that kind of coordinated, accountable effort

to address AIDS in America, and that's what we need," Collins

said.

There is a new HIV infection every 9½ minutes in the U.S. But

about one of every five people living with HIV doesn't know it.

Access to care plays a role in prevention, too, because the more

virus in someone's bloodstream, the easier it is for that person to

spread infection through such things as unprotected sex.

In one step toward reducing disparities in access to care, the

Obama administration on Friday reallocated $25 million to states

that have waiting lists for their AIDS Drug Assistance Programs,

which provide treatment help for the uninsured and underinsured.

The National Alliance of State & Territorial AIDS Directors

reported that more than 2,200 people in 12 states were on waiting

lists for ADAP help as of last week.