President Trump Plans to Eliminate the Division of HIV Prevention at the CDC, Cut $1.3 Billion in Funding for HIV Prevention

President Trump’s administration is planning to eliminate the Division of HIV Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and reduce federal funding for HIV prevention programs carried out by community organizations. If they succeed, more than $1.3 billion in funding for HIV testing, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) navigation, syringe service programs (SSPs), and other successful prevention services will be lost, setting back our nation’s efforts to end the HIV epidemic by decades and costing countless American lives.

“Not only would this proposal end a critical source of funding that is central to efforts to provide people most impacted by and vulnerable to HIV with life-saving medication, education and resources, but it will also ultimately raise the cost of health care for all Americans,” said Bill Keeton, Chief Advocacy Officer at Vivent Health, one of the nation’s leading providers of HIV care. “The lifetime average costs associated with HIV care and treatment for individuals who acquire HIV are estimated at $500,000 over the course of their lifetime – a cost that will be spread across public and private insurance, healthcare systems, taxpayers and American healthcare consumers. This fact alone makes this proposal not only an affront to health, but a poor financial decision as well.”

To deliver HIV prevention programs across its six-state footprint, Vivent Health receives $5,375,000 in annual funding. These dollars are often the only source of funding to support access to comprehensive HIV and STD prevention services, including access to PrEP, the medication that can prevent HIV acquisition. And these programs are working, as nationally there has been a reduction in new HIV diagnoses, especially among young people according to CDC published data.

Said Keeton, “We have the tools to achieve the mission of ending HIV as an epidemic. What we lack are the resources to get these tools to everyone who needs them – especially people of color, LGBTQ folks and people living in poverty – a challenge that this proposal will make worse, not better.”