CNN: President Trump must lead the global fight against HIV/AIDS, not surrender it
Tom Hart, North America executive director of the ONE Campaign

“After 15 years of strong, bipartisan American leadership and incredible progress in the global fight against AIDS, the Trump administration appears ready to trade the iconic red ribbon for the white flag of surrender. That’s the conclusion of a new ONE Campaign report released [last] week. Working with some of the nation’s leading experts in the global fight against AIDS, ONE’s policy experts analyzed the consequences of President Donald Trump’s first budget proposal … The lower funding level would force PEPFAR to stop putting additional people on HIV treatment in some of the world’s highest-burden countries … We need to be doing more — not less. In fighting the global epidemic, there is simply no substitute for getting more people on treatment. … President Trump should restore full funding for PEPFAR and the Global Fund in his budget request for 2019, but if he proposes another cut, Congress should once again push it aside. PEPFAR must be given the resources it needs to stem the disease ahead of Africa’s expected population boom. Failure to expand treatment could mean abandoning the historic opportunity to end the AIDS epidemic as a global health threat forever. Our response in the global fight against HIV/AIDS should be to lead, not surrender” (12/1).