HIV+Hep in the News

Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+ Hepatitis Policy Institute, which opposes funding cuts or curtailment in domestic AIDS programs, points out in a separate statement that it was President Trump during his first term in office who put in place the HIV Epidemic Initiative, which calls for ending the HIV epidemic in the U.S. by 2030. That initiative, which Trump announced in his 2019 State of the Union address, is credited with having reduced new HIV infections nationwide by 30 percent in adolescents and young adults, and by about 10 percent in most other groups, according to the Times report on possible plans to scale back the program.

The goal of ending HIV isn’t attainable “without a fully functioning and sufficiently funded HIV prevention program,” Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute, said in a statement. “If the administration has new ideas on how to conduct HIV prevention, including testing, surveillance, education, and PrEP outreach, we are more than willing to discuss them. While we are making progress in reducing the number of new cases, and saving billions of dollars in the process, we must do better–32,000 new infections each year is far too many,” Schmid said. “But we cannot unilaterally cut the funding that Congress has appropriated and that states, local governments, and community-based organizations rely on to carry out their public health responsibilities to address HIV and other infectious diseases.”

President Trump should not undermine the historic progress made in his first administration, says Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV + Hepatitis Policy Institute. “With new long-acting PrEP drugs on the horizon, now is not the time to totally disrupt the system but a time to redouble our efforts to prevent HIV. President Trump was right, we can end HIV, but we need the right policies and funded programs in place to make that a reality,” Schmid said.