US Aid Cuts Restrict Availability Of Drugs That Millions Of Africans Have Taken To Prevent HIV Infection

Reuters (6/20, Corey-Boule) reported that as sub-Saharan Africa “remains the epicenter of the AIDS pandemic,” President Trump’s “cuts have restricted the availability of drugs that millions of Africans have taken to prevent infection,” and “now, some of those who’ve lost access to the preventative medication because of U.S. cutbacks are already testing positive, according to 10 patients, health officials and activists.” Reuters “spoke to 23 health workers, PrEP users and activists, nearly all of whom said that the increase in HIV infections since the funding cuts was impossible to quantify because many organisations working with vulnerable populations have been defunded.” USAIDS previously said in March that the US had been funding nearly 45% of HIV prevention programming “in East and Southern Africa, the sub-region that accounts for more than half of all people living with HIV.”