CIDRAP-Infectious disease specialists protest HIV funding cuts

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Infectious disease specialists protest HIV funding cuts

www.cidrap.umn.edu

Infectious disease specialists protest HIV funding cuts​

Liz Szabo, MA

56 minutes ago.
HIV/AIDS


Infectious disease specialists gathered for an annual infectious disease conference in Washington, DC, today rallied to protest funding cuts to HIV research, prevention, and treatment.

“Nothing has hurt me as much in the last year as the cruel and devastating cuts and attempts to silence us around HIV care, advocacy and research,” said Jeanne Marrazzo, MD, MPH, CEO of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), one of the organizers of the IDWeek 2026 conference.

“Please keep fighting,” said Marazzo, told the crowd of about 100 people. “We really need to just not look away for a second.”

1,700 treatment facilities shuttered​

International government funding for HIV response fell by $2.1 billion in 2025, a drop of 25%, mostly because of decreases in funding by the Trump administration. About 1,700 HIV treatment facilities have shut down worldwide.

Last month, nearly 100 community-based organizations in the United States lost their federal HIV-prevention grants, which are being given to state and local health departments instead.

Marazzo and other speakers stood in front a wall of quilts created this year and last to protest cuts to HIV research and care. The #CutsKill quilt, created by the advocacy group Save HIV Funding, recalls the AIDS quilt created during the 1980s and 1990s to memorialize people who died from the disease.

“So much is at risk,” said Mitchell Warren, executive director of AVAC, an international nonprofit organization that works to accelerate the development and equitable delivery of HIV prevention tools, vaccines, and global health equity. “So much progress, so many lives, so much opportunity.”

Ending the HIV epidemic is possible today, Warren said, “and it’s possible because of science.”

International and domestic impacts​

Nada Fadul, MD, MPH, described the international impacts of funding cuts.

“One of the darkest days of my life was January 30, 2025, when I walked into an HIV clinic in Nakuru, Kenya, and I saw on the wall a sign that says, ‘This is made possible by the generosity of the American people,’” said Fadul, an infectious disease specialist from Nebraska and board member of the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA). “On that same day, they had to let go 45 workers in that clinic because of cuts.”

Fadul said she is concerned for the future.

“Even if we recover from this crisis, we’re not going to back to square zero,” Fadul said. “We all know that we’re going back 30, 40 years.”

Other speakers addressed the domestic impact of the Trump administration’s HIV funding cuts.

“As a person living with HIV, I am here with you today to oppose any cuts to HIV, federal HIV funding for care and services, and to demand an increase in funding for HIV,” said Ronald Johnson, treasurer of the US People Living with HIV Caucus, an advocacy group that works to make sure the needs of people living with HIV are included in national policy.

People with HIV say their health is at risk in multiple ways.

Beginning in January, adults must work, volunteer, or attend an educational or training program for at least 80 hours per month to receive benefits from Medicaid, a federal health insurance plan managed by states. Medicaid enrollees will have to verify that they meet this requirement twice a year or lose coverage. Nearly half of Americans with HIV are covered by Medicaid.

The leader of the Save HIV Funding Campaign said the HIV community has felt as if it’s under assault.

“All of the speakers today have spoken about humanity, and I think that’s something we are all starved for right now,” said Jeremiah Johnson, who is also the executive director of PrEP4All. “It’s easy to become numb, and it’s easy to become cynical.”

At gatherings like today’s rally, Jeremiah Johnson said, “This is where we come back to restore our faith, to find our connection, and remember why we got into this work in the first place.

“And why we will continue to do it, even when it is incredibly hard, even when it feels like we are in such darkness that we don’t know if we will ever be able to get out. We know that we will because we have each other.”

Some funding cuts have been stopped​

The evening before the rally, public policy specialists from IDSA and other medical groups held a four-hour training session for conference attendees who wanted to learn how to advocate for public health infectious disease care on Capitol Hill and in their home states.

Public health advocates reminded conference attendees of funding battles they have won, and others that they are still fighting.

Activists from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and other groups succeeded in restoring funding to Florida’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program, which serves tens of thousands of people with HIV.

So much is at risk....So much progress, so many lives, so much opportunity.

Public health supporters also stopped nearly $2 billion in proposed federal cuts for HIV in fiscal year 2026, said HIVMA chair Anna Person, MD.

HIV medical experts have filed a lawsuit to halt new federal rules that would restrict healthcare available to low-income transgender people living with HIV.

“Your voice matters,” Person said. “Now is a critical time for us to urge our policymakers to stand up for federal HIV programs.”