In a matter of just a couple days, we are losing our nation’s ability to prevent HIV. The expertise of the staff, along with their decades of leadership, has now been destroyed and cannot be replaced. We will feel the impacts of these decisions for years to come and it will certainly, sadly, translate into an increase in new HIV infections and higher medical costs.
We cannot end HIV without a fully functioning and sufficiently funded HIV prevention program. 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. 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. Without those federal resources, the number of new cases and the lifetime costs of treating them will just, sadly, multiply.
While we would have liked to see improved outcomes, federal funding for CDC HIV prevention and the Ryan White HIV/AIDS care and treatment program, along with other critical programs, has remained flat for years. The only increases have been for the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative, and even that program hasn’t received the increases it needs to be successful,” commented Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute. “Without significant increases for care and treatment, and prevention programs, including those for PrEP, sadly we will continue to experience only small drops in the number of new diagnoses, and racial and ethnic disparities will persist. As a nation, we can and must do better.”
“After House Republicans initially put at risk the nation’s progress in ending HIV, we are relieved that House and Senate congressional negotiators have agreed to maintain funding for domestic HIV prevention, care, and treatment programs,” said Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute.
“We must make sure that everyone with a reason to be on PrEP is able to access the medication best suited to their needs. With new long-acting PrEP, many people who have had a hard time adhering to a regimen of a daily pill now have another option to prevent HIV,” said Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute. “And we now know that more cases of HIV can be averted and medical costs can be saved by gradually increasing the uptake of long-acting PrEP. This must be taken into account as we develop policies and programs regarding the use and coverage of PrEP.”