HIV & AIDS

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What to know about the Supreme Court case that could take away your access to PrEP and other care

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Last Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear Kennedy v. Braidwood Management, a case which The Advocatefirst broke news of in 2022, that could dismantle one of the most widely used and life-saving provisions of the Affordable Care Act: the guarantee that insurers must cover preventive services—like HIV prevention medication, cancer screenings, and maternal health care—at no cost to patients. While the case began as a religious objection to PrEP coverage by a group of conservative Christian business owners in Texas, it’s evolved into a full-blown challenge to the ACA’s preventive care mandate. A ruling against the government could jeopardize no-cost access to cancer screenings, STI testing, contraception, diabetes care, […]

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Trump quietly purges presidential HIV advisory council, sparking public health fears

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HIV advocates and public health experts are raising alarms after the Trumpadministration moved to remove all members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS — a group that for three decades has provided critical guidance on federal HIV prevention, treatment, and care policy. The decision, first reported by Reuters, comes amid sweeping cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., including layoffs of 10,000 federal health employees and the closure of half of HHS’s regional offices. The Trump administration eliminated several offices within HHS dedicated to infectious disease prevention, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has […]

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RFK Jr’s ‘dangerous’ health layoffs could undo years of HIV prevention research, experts warn

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Mass layoffs across the US Department of Health (HHS) could have “dangerous” effects on the prevention of HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), not-for-profit groups have warned. More than 10,000 HHS positions have reportedly disappeared since Robert F Kennedy Jr, better-known as RFK Jr, became secretary of health. Among them are positions in the Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/Aids Policy, as well as at the world-famous Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Other key areas affected include jobs in STI and HIV response teams, the dismantling of the PrEP Implementation Branch, and cutbacks on HIV awareness campaigns. RFK […]

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Now is a uniquely terrible time to cut funding for HIV

Rebecca Denison expected to have a short life. She’d acquired HIV as a college student in the 1980s, she told the audience at an infectious disease conference in San Francisco earlier this month, and got an official diagnosis in 1990. “Back then,” she said matter-of-factly, “It was understood we were all going to die.” Within six years, that all changed. A new generation of drugs called protease inhibitors, when combined with other drugs, made the virus virtually undetectable in people with HIV, giving them a much greater chance of living to old age. “Your work saved my life,” Denison, now an advocate for HIV-positive women, […]

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Trump admin moves to end federal HIV prevention programs. ‘Catastrophic’ consequences, experts say

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The Trump administration is preparing to eliminate all federal funding for domestic HIV prevention programs, a move that health experts say will undo decades of progress in combating the epidemic. The decision, which could be announced within the next 48 hours, would shut down the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s HIV prevention division and halt all federally funded prevention efforts, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report on the development, citing sources within the Department of Health and Human Services who say the move is part of a broader restructuring effort targeting federal public health […]

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Harvard Doctors Sue Over LGBTQ Research Deletions

Via press release from the ACLU: Doctors from Harvard Medical School today challenged the removal of their articles from the Patient Safety Network (PSNet), a government-run website for doctors and medical researchers to share information about medical errors, misdiagnoses, and patient outcomes. The papers were removed as part of a takedown of information that the government contends promotes “gender ideology,” including any articles containing certain prohibited terms, including “LGBTQ” and “trans[gender].” “Here in Massachusetts, we deeply understand that academic research and knowledge-sharing is essential to our economy and for the health care of all people,” said Rachel Davidson, staff attorney at […]

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CDC site scrubs HIV content following Trump DEI policies

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday is scrubbing a swath of HIV-related content from the agency’s website as a part of President Donald Trump’s broader effort to wipe out diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across the federal government. The CDC’s main HIV page was down temporarily but has been restored. The CDC began removing all content related to gender identity on Friday, according to one government staffer. HIV-related pages were apparently caught up in that action. CDC employees were told in a Jan 29. email from Charles Ezell, the acting director of the U.S. office of personnel […]

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Federal government eases rules on organ transplants between donors and recipients with HIV

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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has eased the regulations on kidney and liver donations between HIV-positive donors and HIV-positive recipients, something that HHS says will increase access to these organs. A rule on interpretation of the HIV Organ Policy Equity Act removes requirements for clinical research and institutional review board approval for such donations, “based on research demonstrating the safety and effectiveness of kidney and liver transplants between donors and recipients with HIV,” says an HHS press release. The rule became final Wednesday. “We continue to do everything in our power to increase access to life-saving organs while addressing health inequities faced […]

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Today is World’s AIDS Day

On World AIDS Day, we unite to remember those we’ve lost, support those living with HIV, and renew our commitment to ending the epidemic. Raising awareness is vital to breaking stigma, promoting testing, and advancing treatment. Together, we can make a difference. Join us in spreading the word, educating others, and standing up for a future free from HIV/AIDS. Together we can make a difference.  Contribute To Our Work For over 40 years, Face to Face has been at the forefront of compassionate care and innovative responses to emerging health crisis here in Sonoma County. Our journey began in 1983 as […]

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Climate change is disrupting access to HIV treatment

Half of people with HIV in the United States are living in places that are vulnerable to extreme weather and climate disasters, according to a new analysis from the left-leaning Center for American Progress (CAP).  The report from CAP released Wednesday finds that the areas of the country where HIV is being diagnosed at disproportionately high rates are also places most at risk of disasters. The analysis used data from the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. (EHE) program, a federal program that aims to reduce the rate of new HIV infections, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) national risk […]

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