SAVE HIV FUNDING RESPONDS TO STATE DEPARTMENT COMMENTS AMID ZAMBIA HEALTH FUNDING CONTROVERSY

WASHINGTON, D.C – TUESDAY, MARCH 31 – Save HIV Funding is responding to newly reported comments from the U.S. State Department dismissing concerns raised by nearly 100 global health and faith organizations over a potential plan to condition HIV and medical assistance to Zambia on a critical minerals agreement.

In reporting from POLITICO, a State Department spokesperson characterized the coalition of organizations, which includes leading global health experts and frontline providers, as politically motivated, while declining to directly address whether HIV funding is being used as leverage in ongoing negotiations.

The response comes after advocates urged Marco Rubio to publicly clarify that U.S. global health assistance, including lifesaving HIV treatment and prevention programs, will not be tied to unrelated geopolitical or trade objectives.

This comes as new reporting in New York Magazine highlights growing concern among public health experts that recent funding cuts and policy shifts — both globally and within the United States — could reverse decades of progress in the fight against HIV, including warnings of a potential rise in new infections for the first time in decades.

Save HIV Funding issued the following statement:

“Funding for humanitarian purposes and ending the HIV epidemic should never be conditioned on unrelated concessions around trade deals. This unprofessional response undermines actual expertise and creates distrust among the people the program is meant to help. Lifesaving HIV treatment is not a bargaining chip, and dismissing nearly 100 global health and faith organizations raising legitimate concerns only deepens the urgency of this moment. Save HIV Funding urges U.S. leadership to provide immediate clarity and reaffirm that global HIV programs will not be politicized or used as leverage in unrelated negotiations. The integrity of decades of progress, and millions of lives, depends on it.”

Save HIV Funding is a national coalition working across sectors and party lines to protect and expand access to HIV prevention, treatment, and care. The coalition has been at the forefront of elevating the importance of sustained federal investment in HIV programs — both domestically and globally — and continues to mobilize rapid-response efforts as policy decisions threaten access to lifesaving care.

As conversations around foreign assistance and public health funding intensify, Save HIV Funding is calling for transparency, accountability, and a renewed commitment to protecting HIV infrastructure at a moment when experts warn progress could begin to reverse.