After tireless efforts by DPC and others in the kidney community, President Obama signed the HIV Organ Policy Equity (HOPE) Act into law on November 21, 2013.
The HOPE Act was introduced with strong bipartisan support in the House of Representatives by Rep. Lois Capps and Rep. Andy Harris and in the Senate by Sen. Barbara Boxer and Sen. Tom Coburn. The HOPE Act legalizes the research of transplanting HIV positive organs into HIV positive recipients. If this research proves this practice to be effective, the organ supply in the United States could increase by 500 organs per year. Many of these organs would be kidneys. With kidney transplant wait times between five and seven years and with an ever-expanding waiting list, passage of the HOPE Act is an important step to increasing access, yet much work remains for advocates.
DPC advocates urged their legislators to support this common sense legislation by writing letters to their legislators and meeting with them in person during DPC’s World Kidney Day fly-in in 2013.
