HIV Prevention Saves Lives. So Does Courage.
The HIV prevention pipeline has never been stronger. Innovations like long-acting injectables, the dapivirine vaginal ring, and promising implants are radically transforming how we protect individuals and communities from HIV. But despite this progress, the Trump administration issued new guidance earlier this year threatening to undo hard-won gains by terminating HIV prevention programs essential to ending the epidemic as a global public health threat.
The Administration’s policies limit access to U.S.-funded HIV prevention services, including PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis), to only pregnant and breastfeeding women. Entire communities at highest risk for HIV infection, including adolescent girls and young women, LGBTQ+ people, sex workers, and people who inject drugs, are excluded.
These policies and funding cuts not only deny lifesaving protection to those most vulnerable, they create a chilling effect across the entire prevention landscape. It hinders innovation, deters procurement and programmatic planning, and sends a dangerous message that ideology, not science, data, or equity, is guiding U.S. global health priorities.
These policies and funding cuts not only deny lifesaving protection to those most vulnerable, they create a chilling effect across the entire prevention landscape. It hinders innovation, deters procurement and programmatic planning, and sends a dangerous message that ideology, not science, data, or equity, is guiding U.S. global health priorities.
We won’t end the epidemic through treatment alone. Prevention stops HIV before it spreads.
But this will require the courage of U.S. leaders to step up and continue to support these efforts.