Donald Trump’s assault on foreign aid shuttered 1,700 HIV care sites worldwide

Cuts by the Trump administration to PEPFAR have forced 1,700 sites providing HIV care around the world to close. That’s according to a new study by amfAR scheduled for release next week at the International AIDS Conference in Brazil. The HIV research organization shared its findings with The New York Times.

A survey conducted by the group found that care was especially disrupted for populations at heightened risk of HIV, including sex workers, men who have sex with men, transgender people and people who inject drugs. About three-quarters of organizations providing care to those populations halted all such services to comply with Trump administration policies.

PEPFAR, formally known as the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, was launched by Republican President George W. Bush. The program, however, became one of the biggest targets of President Donald Trump’s assault on foreign aid at the start of his second term. Experts immediately sounded alarms about what the loss of funding could mean and warned of long-term consequences, including the possibility that millions of children could be orphaned as HIV and AIDS spread in underserved regions.

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A second group of scientists also shared data with the Times, previewing findings showing that 77,000 fewer children worldwide received care through the HIV program than during the previous year — a 14 percent decline.

The real-world impacts of the funding cuts documented by amfAR conflict with data released by the State Department, which reported in April that PEPFAR continued to support 20.6 million people living with HIV worldwide — roughly the same number as before the cuts — and said the program had shifted toward greater self-reliance by participating countries. The State Department notably stressed at the time its support for pregnant and breastfeeding women, rather than people considered at heightened risk because of sexual activity or drug use.

The State Department, in a statement to the Times, disputed the amfAR findings.

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“We have not verified this specific report, but we can categorically say that its methodology is flawed,” the State Department said in a statement to the Times. “The Trump Administration has strengthened PEPFAR through clear strategic direction, promoting greater recipient-country ownership, and sharpening the program’s focus on measurable health outcomes.”

But amfAR’s data, based on survey responses from 166 organizations, found that delayed or terminated funding awards had forced the layoffs of 16,000 workers and the closure of 1,700 care sites. The organizations surveyed represented only about one-quarter of all PEPFAR funding recipients.