United States: Under the Trump administration, the last federal health officials monitoring HIV care for more than 1.1 million mothers and children in impoverished countries were terminated from their positions.
This decision creates concerns about care support for vulnerable populations. The officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and the State Department managed the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)-funded programs through their work in multiple US agencies.
Programs established for HIV prevention between mothers and babies and child HIV treatment benefit from these initiatives. A reorganization led to the termination of those teams exactly one week ago.
According to a federal health official who asked not to be named, “We hope this is not a sign that treating mothers and children is no longer important in PEPFAR and that this is a mistake that can be corrected,” the New York Times reported.
PEPFAR funding continues to exist, yet The Times reports that the programs lack the personnel to implement them correctly.
Contrary to expectations, the financial resources remain uncertain since the elimination of the specialist staff who administered at least 300 grants spanning 40 international locations.
The organization depends on the CDC for funding, which represents sixty percent of its budget, but the CDC has promised the full amount only until September.
Research released Tuesday in The Lancet shows PEPFAR stoppage would result in 1 million new HIV infections together with approximately 500,000 AIDS-linked pediatric deaths before 2030.
A child below the age of 15 in sub-Saharan Africa dies from AIDS every seven minutes, based on a report from The Times.
Prenatal clinics provide treatment to pregnant women with HIV, preventing baby infections from occurring in 1 out of 3 cases down to less than 1% based on National Institutes of Health data.
CDC personnel previously assisted nations in preparing new HIV drug distributions and monitoring medicine shortages that resulted from foreign aid restrictions in January. Now, that coordination has disappeared, US News reported.
“This coordination is especially critical right now because we’re in a period of immense change,” as per the anonymous CDC official statement.