By Ahmed Aboulenein and Julie Steenhuysen
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. health department said on Tuesday it is reviewing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s HIV prevention division for overlap with other agencies but no final decision had been made about its future.
The Department of Health and Human Services made the statement after the WSJ and NBC, citing unnamed sources, reported the division could be dismantled.
The CDC’s $1.3 billion Division of HIV Prevention is tasked with tracking infections across the United States and promoting testing and prevention, including the use of the HIV prevention medications, also known as PrEP.
Carl Schmid, the executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute in Washington, told Reuters he had been told by a government agency source that the division might be shut down and that a decision would be made this week on the funding of HIV prevention at the CDC.
Schmid, who co-chaired the Presidential Advisory Council of HIV/AIDS during President Donald Trump’s first term, said he understood all of the division’s funding is “up in the air”.
HHS, which oversees the CDC, said in a statement it was looking at all divisions for potential overlap as part of Trump’s broader efforts to restructure the federal government and that no final decision had been made on the CDC’s HIV Prevention Division.
“If this decision is even made, this work would be continued elsewhere at HHS,” a department official said.
Another HHS agency, the Health Resources and Services Administration, contains the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program which provides HIV health services to low-income people.
The Trump administration’s approach to HIV/AIDS policy is undergoing a broad shift. In January, the White House ordered an immediate halt to the distribution of HIV medications by U.S.-funded foreign clinics, disrupting treatment for millions worldwide.
AIDS activists immediately began organizing a pressure campaign to try and preempt a potential decision on the division. Patient advocacy groups like AIDS United directed supporters to call elected representatives and provided sample scripts.
“It is important that we get the message out that HIV prevention is important. The funding that the CDC’s division of prevention gets is saving lives,” said AIDS United CEO Jesse Milan.
Moving HIV prevention services to a different health agency would likely involve significant cuts to the prevention portfolio, Milan added.
“What is not well understood by decision makers is there are about 1.2 million people who are vulnerable to HIV infection,” he said. “That is what the division is about. That is different from the 1.2 million people who already have HIV.”
(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein in Washington and Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago; Editing by Nia Williams)
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