Trump administration

It bears remembering that the United States has made tremendous strides against HIV in recent years. From 2018 to 2022, new infections declined by 12% nationwide–and by 21% in the communities targeted by the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative. However, there were still 39,000 new diagnoses in 2023, with over half of them in the South. Eliminating HIV prevention funding now would squander that progress and contradict President Trump’s original commitment to end HIV by 2030. In fact, earlier this fall, National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya reaffirmed that goal, noting the elimination of HIV as one of his top priorities. These devastating proposed cuts would make that impossible to achieve.