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The Trump administration has had a sometimes difficult relationship with the HIV / AIDS community | Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images
As part of the US president's ten-year strategy, health officials would target US communities most affected by HIV.
US President Donald Trump plans to use Tuesday's State of the Union address to promise to end the HIV epidemic in America, four people told POLITICO aware of the planned remarks.
As part of Trump's 10-year strategy, health officials would target the most HIV-affected communities and strive to reduce transmission by 2030. This strategy has been championed by the world's top health officials. Health, including HHS Secretary Alex Azar and CDC Director Robert Redfield.
While Trump's address plans remain fluid – and one official warned that the speech was not finalized – HHS asked the White House to ensure that the HIV strategy is put forward. Tuesday night, said two people. The agency is also planning a wider rollout this week.
An HHS spokesman referred questions to the White House. A White House spokesman declined to comment.
More than a million Americans have According to the CDC, HIV and about 40,000 people are newly infected each year.
The state of the Union has always been a platform for presidents to make bold proclamations in public health – many of which have not yet come to fruition. Former President Barack Obama used his last speech in January 2016 to call for the end of cancer. While the cancer rate has continued to decline, it is estimated that more than 600,000 US residents died of cancer last year.
As part of Trump's HIV strategy, health officials would spend the first five years focusing on communities in about 20 states with the highest concentration of HIV infections. The ultimate goal is to stop new infections over a 10-year period, said two officials, along with how the Trump administration is targeting the opioid epidemic.
The strategy was strongly shaped by Redfield, a prominent AIDS researcher who was asked to lead the CDC last year. Last year, Redfield said at a meeting gathering all hands at the CDC that it was possible to end AIDS by 2025 with existing public health tools, such as than the more widespread use of condoms.
Brett Giroir, HHS Assistant Secretary of Health, who oversaw much of the Trump administration's opioid work, was also instrumental in leading the roll-out of the HIV strategy.
The Trump administration has had a sometimes difficult relationship with the HIV / AIDS community. In January 2018, the president laid off his advisory board on HIV / AIDS without explanation, and the new members of the committee were not sworn in. until that last week.
Trump has also tried several times to remove the president's emergency plan for the fight against AIDS, better known as PEPFAR, a multi-billion dollar initiative launched by former President George W. Bush, which has saved more than 17 million lives worldwide. However, Trump in December 2018 signed an extension of the program that received bipartisan support.
Meanwhile, advocates have expressed concern that the Trump administration is canceling essential protections for LGBTQ patients, who are particularly vulnerable to HIV infections. About two-thirds of new HIV infections are among homobadual or bibadual men.
HIV / AIDS researchers have criticized Trump's health department for its effort, led by Giroir and supported by abortion rights advocates, in search of alternatives to research on HIV / AIDS. fetal tissues. HIV / AIDS researchers say fetal tissue is necessary for the development of a potential vaccine against the disease.
Brianna Ehley contributed to this report.
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