The New York Times reports the Trump administration is ignoring a congressional directive to fully fund PEPFAR, an HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention program credited with saving 26 million lives since President George W. Bush signed it into law in 2003. The Times reports the Office of Management and Budget, led by Russell Vought, has apportioned less than half of the $6 billion appropriated by Congress to PEPFAR for the current fiscal year. Meanwhile, a union representing federal workers said Thursday the Trump administration has permanently fired 600 employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adding to mass layoffs proposed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
  • Basic Glitch@sh.itjust.worksOP
    3·
    1 day ago

    In some states (like the one where I live) there are laws that make it illegal to not disclose your HIV positive status to a partner and it’s punishable with time in prison. It is very much a holdover from the HIV=gay so pretend targeting gays will eradicate HIV.

    There are literally people who have written contracts they get every new partner to sign before sex bc they worry about the law being used to target them.

    Access to medications like Prep keeps viral load low enough so that it’s undetectable. When the virus is undetectable it becomes untransmissible.

    Still you have cases where people who have been unable to transmit the virus for a decade, face jail time simply for being HIV positive.

    Trump wants to block access to these medications. You also have cuts being made to free clinics that provide testing for STDs.

    So under Trump you will have people who are HIV+ unable to access medications that prevent transmission, you will have increased prevalence of circulating HIV in populations going undetected, and you also have Trump saying he wants to reduce funding for harm reduction interventions for addiction (like needle exchanges).

    As HIV epidemics begin to re-emerge (especially in poorer areas with fewer privately funded resources available to the public) you will also have crackdowns and arrests of people using these laws that target HIV status.