President Trump's executive order to pause virtually all USAID funding for 90 days has had a significant impact on global HIV/AIDS programs, particularly the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). A recent State Department memo further clarifies the impact, restricting access to HIV preventative medications like PrEP to pregnant and breastfeeding women during the funding freeze. This raises concerns about the well-being of other high-risk groups and the overall effectiveness of HIV prevention efforts.
The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief has been the subject of a series of presidential orders and memos that have left uncertainty about how it operates.The unstaffed reception area at the Kampala offices of Uganda Young Positives on February 12. UYP is a nongovernmental organization that aims to improve the quality of life for young people living with HIV/AIDS and reduce infection rates through awareness programs.
The memo, which NPR obtained, states that if a clinic receives funding through the U.S. program PEPFAR, this preventative medication can"" be given to"pregnant and breastfeeding women" during the 90-day freeze on foreign aid that the Trump administration instituted. First there was the 90-day freeze on virtually all programs run by USAID, the U.S. foreign aid agency that oversees PEPFAR, on Jan. 24. Most other forms of foreign assistance were also halted.In the wake of protests about this aid suspension, the State Department released a waiver on Feb. 1 for some HIV treatments and testing to continue.
NPR also spoke to five sources who until recently worked on HIV issues at USAID and humanitarian nonprofit groups. These sources asked for anonymity for fear of retribution from the Trump administration that would put their careers or organizations at risk. They all confirmed that HIV drug distribution and testing are still at a standstill.
"More PEPFAR money went to programmatic support, which includes people's salaries, community health workers, lab commodities, transportation," Mukherjee told NPR. "The NGO that has been doing that outreach was exclusively funded by PEPFAR, so they've stopped their operations," she said.
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