There are currently more than a million Americans living HIV, and about 40,000 new infections are diagnosed here every year. African-American gay and bisexual men are the group most affected by HIV in the US, and diagnoses in the mid-20s to mid-30s age cohort have been rising in recent years. But Trump’s reported proposal is not at all as far-fetched as it may seem. [...]
For now, the details of the administration’s plans are still scant (both HHS and the White House declined Vox’s request for comment). But we asked five HIV and public health experts to weigh in on what Trump’s plan to end HIV in the US should include if the administration is serious about tackling the ongoing epidemic. Here’s what they told us. Their answers have been lightly edited for clarity. [...]
One of the big challenges in the US right now is that only about half of people living with HIV are virally suppressed [meaning they’re on medication that reduces their risk of spreading HIV to almost zero]. If 90 percent of people were virally suppressed, we’d have a different story. So that’s a key part of this: getting people on treatment and virally suppressed. When people are durably virally suppressed, there’s no risk of transmission to an HIV-negative partner. [...]
But since the 2008 recession, there’s been a devastation of local public health departments. The lack of funding for public health has eroded our safety net and made it impossible to control infectious diseases like HIV and other STDs. Investing in local public health is the best thing we can do control HIV.
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