The U.S. was on track to end the HIV epidemic. Budget cuts threaten that progress.

HIV Prevention in Peril: How Budget Cuts Threaten Decades of Progress

In a recent guest essay for Healthbeat, Dr. Jay Varma issues a sobering warning: the United States was on track to end the HIV epidemic — until federal budget cuts, policy changes, and agency restructuring began dismantling the very programs that made that progress possible.

Drawing from decades of work in global and domestic epidemic response, Dr. Varma explains how HIV prevention has evolved from behavioral strategies to status-neutral, biomedical care — including the widespread use of PrEP and ART. But now, critical infrastructure is being dismantled: HIV research is defunded, prevention programs at CDC are being cut, and even insurance coverage for PrEP is under legal threat.

This piece highlights how these setbacks are more than policy changes — they’re likely to result in real-world increases in HIV infections, illness, and long-term healthcare costs, particularly for already vulnerable communities.

📖 Read the full article on Healthbeat:
👉 The U.S. was on track to end the HIV epidemic. Budget cuts threaten that progress.