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Opinion: Dismantling the CDC’s Division of HIV Prevention will cost far more than it saves
“Taking the CDC out of the fight against HIV would be a huge mistake,” write the leaders of the health departments for Mecklenburg County, N.C., and Shelby County, Tenn.
In 2019, President Trump stood before Congress and the American people and pledged to end the HIV epidemic in the U.S. by 2030. Now, his administration is reportedly considering dismantling a program — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of HIV Prevention — necessary to achieve that goal. Taking the CDC out of the fight against HIV would be a huge mistake.
As leaders of Mecklenburg County’s health department in North Carolina and Shelby County’s health department in Tennessee, respectively, we’ve seen firsthand how advances in science, investments in research, a greater emphasis on prevention, and better access to more effective treatments have saved lives and improved health. New HIV cases in the U.S. have dropped by more than 75% compared with their peak in the mid-1980s, and the death rate has plummeted.
