Hundreds of HIV doctors and researchers have urged the Trump administration to reverse its sweeping cuts to aid funding, warning that these reductions are inflicting “catastrophic harm” on the global fight against AIDS.
The U.S. has long been the world’s largest donor of humanitarian aid, but since returning to the White House less than two months ago, President Donald Trump has significantly reduced international aid.
These cuts have severely impacted global efforts to combat HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, and other health crises, putting millions of lives at risk, according to humanitarian organizations.
In an open letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, signed by prominent HIV doctors, researchers, and public health experts, the government was urged to change its course.
The letter, dated Thursday, stated, “If not reversed, the dismantling of the U.S.-supported AIDS response will lead to the deaths of an estimated six million people in the next four years, undo decades of progress, and result in worsening HIV epidemics worldwide.”
On Monday, Rubio revealed that 83% of contracts under the U.S. humanitarian agency USAID had been terminated. As a result, the PEPFAR anti-HIV initiative, which has been one of the most successful public health campaigns, saving an estimated 26 million lives over the past two decades, has been “virtually eliminated,” according to the letter.
The cuts have also immediately halted medical trials worldwide, leaving participants stranded, the letter further emphasized. Many research institutions have faced cuts in funding, staffing, and political autonomy. Johns Hopkins University announced it would lay off over 2,000 employees due to these USAID funding reductions.
Even if U.S. courts ultimately deem these decisions illegal, the letter stressed, “the human suffering and loss of life happening now cannot be undone.”
Among the letter’s signatories was French scientist Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, who won the Nobel Prize in 1983 for her role in identifying the HIV virus.
The U.S. government has stated that the funding cuts were intended to reduce spending, with Elon Musk, Trump’s billionaire advisor, boasting of putting USAID “through the woodchipper.”
The letter was published as researchers gathered at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in San Francisco, and protests were held across the U.S. last week, calling on people to “Stand Up for Science.”
