Over the past few months, the Trump Administration has repeatedly displayed a disregard for life-saving HIV prevention efforts and for the well-being of many of the communities most directly impacted by the HIV epidemic. After spending much of the spring targeting individual grant programs that serve LGBTQ+ communities, gutting all diversity and equity initiatives, and vilifying immigrant communities, they have now set their sights on dismantling nearly all of our federal government’s HIV prevention infrastructure.

In their Fiscal Year 2026 budget, the Trump Administration erased all mention of the CDC’s Division of HIV Prevention and made disastrous cuts to federal HIV prevention funding. And right now, as of June 1st, the Administration has yet to release desperately needed HIV prevention funds that have already been authorized by Congress.

We must take action now. There is no time to waste. 

All across the country, health departments are being forced to abruptly stop their HIV prevention work as they wait for funding that has already been allocated by Congress. In turn, community-based organizations are receiving “stop work orders” and staff are losing their jobs. HIV prevention programs that allow people to access vital interventions like Pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP and PEP) are being halted – with no idea if or when they’ll resume.

This unconscionable action by the Administration places all of our progress in reducing new HIV transmissions at risk and flies in the face of decades of bipartisan federal HIV policy, including the Ending the HIV Epidemic Initiative that President Trump created. 

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.
• More than 90% of all federal HIV prevention funding comes from CDC, and nearly 90% of that CDC HIV prevention funding goes directly to state health departments and community-based organizations.
• The loss of prevention programming currently supported by CDC is all but impossible for  states to cover on their own. State budgets are tight and it’s unlikely states can or will replace these lost resources.

 

If we don’t stop this massive attack on HIV prevention, there will be a resurgence of this preventable disease and many people will become unnecessarily sick. Not to mention, it will result in millions of dollars in costs to taxpayers.

Please call your Senators and Representatives and tell them to do everything they can to stop these cuts. Find your elected officials by calling the US Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121 (Senate); 202-225-3121 (House)

You can use the call script below when you call!

 

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Call-In Sample Script

Hello,

My name is _________, I am one of your constituents. I live in _________ and my zipcode is _________.

I’m calling to speak to you about some extremely distressing reports I have been hearing that The Trump Administration has failed to provide state health departments with already Congressionally appropriated Fiscal Year 2025 CDC HIV prevention funding and that they are encouraging Congress to radically defund federal HIV prevention efforts in their Fiscal Year 2026 budget. 

Right now, Health departments are being forced to stop their HIV prevention work as they wait for funding, and are sending stop work orders to community-based organizations. Staff are already being laid off and HIV prevention programs that allow people to access vital interventions like pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP and PEP) are being halted.

Failure to provide our communities with federal HIV prevention funding in FY25 and FY26 would destroy any chance we have to end the HIV epidemic in the U.S., dismantling critical prevention efforts and leading to an unnecessary resurgence of this preventable disease.

The work of the CDC Division of HIV Prevention is essential and it is not something that can be covered by the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program or by state budgets. If this funding is cut, the services it funds will not be replaced, meaning more people will contract HIV, more people will get sick, and more people will die.

I urge you to publicly condemn the withholding of CDC HIV prevention funds by the Trump Administration and demand that this Congressionally appropriated funding be disbursed to state health departments immediately. I also urge you to show continued support for lifesaving federal HIV prevention programs in the FY26 appropriations process and demand that the Trump Administration honor its past commitments to ending the HIV epidemic in the US.

Thank you for your time. If needed, I can best be reached at _________ [preferred contact information].