Medical Assistant Hector Reyes administers an HIV blood test to a patient at St. John’s Well Child and Family Center on March 18, 2014 in Los Angeles
President Donald Trump’s announcement Tuesday of a new federal initiative to “eliminate the HIV epidemic in the United States within 10 years” has sparked both cautious optimism and flat-out skepticism from experts and advocates.
According to an overview released by the Department of Health and Human Services, the proposal overhauls the federal government’s HIV/AIDS plan and brings it more closely in line with cutting-edge models pioneered in places like New York City, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. HIV diagnoses there have fallen sharply, thanks to well-funded public health initiatives that quickly link HIV-positive people to treatment and refer at-risk individuals to take PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, to prevent them from being infected with HIV. Read More