Statement on Decimation of CDC HIV Prevention Staff and Other Key Programs

Washington DC… Today, the Trump administration eliminated the staff of several CDC HIV prevention offices, including entire offices conducting public health communication campaigns, modeling and behavioral surveillance, capacity building, and non-lab research. Additionally, Dr. Jonathan Mermin, long-time esteemed director of the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, was “reassigned” to the Indian Health Service. Thousands of other staff have been laid off throughout HHS, with Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, the Director of the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also being “reassigned” to the Indian Health Service. This is on top of eliminations of offices announced last week, most notably the entire staff of the HHS Office of Infectious Diseases & HIV Policy and the HHS Office of Minority Health, among others. In reaction to these announcements, Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute, issued the following statement:

“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 are still learning the full extent of the staff cuts and do not know how the administration’s announced reorganization of HHS will impact all HIV treatment, prevention, and research programs, including President Trump’s Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative. At the moment, it seems that we are in the middle of a hurricane and just waiting for the next shoe to drop.  Hopefully, soon the dust will settle, and we can focus on providing the critically needed HIV treatment and preventive services our county requires. But make no doubt about it, we will be in a much weakened position and it will be harder to achieve our goals.”

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The HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute is a national, non-profit organization whose mission is to promote quality and affordable healthcare for people living with or at risk of HIV, hepatitis, and other serious and chronic health conditions.