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Earlier this week, the Trump administration banned organizations and doctors that receive funding under PEPFAR – a foreign aid program that works to fight global HIV/AIDS – but now says that the distribution of HIV medications can resume.
On Sunday night, the Trump administration told organizations that receive U.S. aid under PEPFAR to stop distributing HIV medication to patients “even if the drugs have already been obtained and are sitting in local clinics,” according to the New York Times. Patients were turned away from clinics on Monday.
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Rep. Barbara Lee says PEPFAR is “in peril” amid conservative attacks and looming government shutdown
The widely hailed Bush-era HIV/AIDS program’s reauthorization is set to lapse October 1.
PEPFAR fights HIV/AIDS in Africa and has saved an estimated 25 million lives, in part by providing anti-viral medications to millions of people, many of whom otherwise couldn’t afford them. Around half a million children get access to life-saving HIV medication through the program. If they don’t take the medication, they could develop AIDS, and they are also more capable of passing the virus on to others.
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“We can very rapidly return to where the pandemic is exploding, like it was back in the 1980s,” Dr. Steve Deeks of the University of California, San Francisco said. “This really cannot happen.”
The Trump administration started a broader ban on foreign aid last week, despite the fact that the money had already been allocated by Congress and the president cannot retroactively veto laws that were previously passed.
But on Tuesday, after public outcry, the Trump administration walked back its ban on distributing HIV medication to patients who need it. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the State Department would offer a waiver for lifesaving medication. It’s not clear if this applies to preventative medication offered by PEPFAR, like PrEP.
The Trump administration also instituted a freeze on federal grants and loans for domestic programs, a move that resulted in the web portal for Medicaid reimbursement getting closed yesterday (it was later brought back after public outcry). The administration has already admitted that it froze the spending in order to review programs for “gender ideology” and diversity initiatives.
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