1. United States
2. N.J.
3. Letter

As part of the Trump administration’s efforts to cut programs and personnel, they’re eliminating any chance we have to end the HIV epidemic in the U.S. by dismantling critical prevention efforts. This unconscionable decision would place all of our progress in reducing new HIV transmissions at risk and fly in the face of decades of bipartisan federal HIV policy, including the Ending the HIV Epidemic Initiative that President Trump created. Pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and preventive services are critical to ending the HIV epidemic. Here are the facts: Prevention provides a huge return on investment. A lifetime of medical costs for a person with HIV can be in excess of $500,000 (adjusted for inflation). The flagship Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program cannot pick up the slack of these lost resources. The Program cannot cover prevention services. Prevention programming currently supported by CDC will either be lost completely or passed onto the states to cover. State budgets are tight and it’s likely states cannot afford to replace these lost resources. If we don’t stop this massive attack on HIV prevention, there will be a resurgence of this preventable disease, many people will become unnecessarily sick, and it will result in millions of dollars in costs to taxpayers. I urge you to publicly condemn the proposed elimination of the CDC’s Division of HIV Prevention and to demand that the Trump Administration honor its past commitments to ending the HIV epidemic in the US.