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Trump Goes to War Against HIV . . . Patients [1]
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Date: 2025-01-27
There are very few things for which I respect George W. Bush, but one of them is PEPFAR — his program to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS worldwide. We were in the Peace Corps (Kenya) in 2005-06, and PEPFAR was one of the projects the Peace Corps was heavily involved in. Everyone appreciated the work we were doing (including the Kenyan who asked me how Bush managed to graduate from the Electoral College!).
Well, Trump is putting a stop to all that. Trump Administration Halts H.I.V. Drug Distribution in Poor Countries (NYT):
The Trump administration has instructed organizations in other countries to stop disbursing H.I.V. medications purchased with U.S. aid, even if the drugs have already been obtained and are sitting in local clinics. The directive is part of a broader freeze on foreign aid initiated last week. It includes the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the global health program started by George W. Bush that is credited with saving more than 25 million lives worldwide. [emphasis added]
Supposedly, this is tied to his 90-day freeze on all foreign aid, but Republicans have long directed special ire at PEPFAR based on spurious claims that it supports abortion. From The Atlantic Sept. 2023: The Republican Betrayal of PEPFAR:
The deadline for the next five-year reauthorization for PEPFAR is September 30, and opposition to it is being led by right-wing groups and members of Congress, including Representative Chris Smith, a onetime champion of PEPFAR who now insists that the program is promoting abortion. That charge is carelessly false. U.S. law does not allow taxpayer money to fund abortions in global-aid programs. No credible authorities have found that the program is being used to promote abortion-related activity, and nothing has changed in how PEPFAR is administered in this respect since the advent of the program. Oversight and reporting requirements are greater for PEPFAR than for other global-health programs. [bold added; italic in original]
(Side note: As part of the Peace Corps’ AIDS prevention activities, we did encourage condom use. Maybe word of that got back to the fundies.)
Not that evidence matters to Republicans. Trump actually supported PEPFAR in his first term, but not this time. More from the NYT story:
On Monday afternoon, officials worldwide were alerted that PEPFAR’s data systems would shut down at 6 p.m. Eastern — roughly three hours after the email was received — immediately closing off access to all data sets, reports and analytical tools.
The shutoff is immediate, brutal, and total:
Appointments are being canceled, and patients are being turned away from clinics, according to people with knowledge of the situation who feared retribution if they spoke publicly. Many people with H.I.V. are facing abrupt interruptions to their treatment.
And
U.S. officials have also been told to stop providing technical assistance to national ministries of health. “The partners we collaborate with are in shock, and they do not know what to do because their lifesaving mission and commitment has been breached,” said Asia Russell, executive director of the advocacy group Health Gap.
This is one Trump action that will have minimum impact, as least as of now, domestically, but will be a major disaster for the developing world:
One study estimated that if PEPFAR were to end, as many as 600,000 lives would be lost over the next decade in South Africa alone. And that nation relies on PEPFAR for only 20 percent of its H.I.V. budget. Some poorer countries are almost entirely dependent on the program.
Is this Trump’s racism out in the open? Pre-emptive bullying of other countries? Pandering to the anti-abortion mythos? Plain old mental derangment? All of the above?
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