Save HIV Funding Campaign Denounces Cancellation of Vital HIV and STI Funding, Urges the Administration to Immediately Restore Grants

This week, the Save HIV Funding campaign denounced a move by the Trump administration to cancel hundreds of millions of dollars in critical public health funding to four states, including dozens of grants supporting HIV and STI prevention. The decision threatens to increase new HIV cases and further strain state budgets at a time when the federal government has already cut access to Medicaid and the insurance marketplace, resulting in increased insurance prices. Contracting resources have pressured some states to reduce support for lifesaving HIV medications. Advocates remain especially concerned about ongoing efforts in Florida to remove more than 12,000 individuals from the state’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program.

The grant cancellations also would undermine essential STI programs at a moment when the U.S. has seen a 750% increase in congenital syphilis cases since 2012 — a dangerous condition that can result in lifelong complications and death for newborns.

While the decision to target Minnesota, Illinois, Colorado, and California — four Democrat-led states — appears rooted in partisan politics, infectious disease outbreaks do not respect state lines. Recent measles outbreaks in multiple states underscore how quickly public health threats spread regardless of jurisdictional boundaries and political ideologies. We strongly support the decision by the four state attorneys general to file suit in an effort to halt the cancellation of HIV, STD, and other public health grants, and we urge the Administration to immediately reverse a decision that will worsen health outcomes in red and blue states alike. The Save HIV Funding Campaign also rejects the Administration’s attempt to frame prevention grants that focus on key populations as ineffective.

Statement by Jeremiah Johnson, Executive Director of PrEP4All and co-founder of the Save HIV Funding Campaign: “It’s common sense for any public health initiative to tailor its response to the communities most in need of testing and preventive services. There is a long history of funding targeted programs because they work — CDC-funded initiatives consistently and disproportionately benefit communities that would otherwise be left out of the national HIV and STD response. This approach is neither radical nor biased. American companies do this every day; they conduct population-specific focus groups and targeted marketing research to ensure their messaging reaches the audiences they intend to serve. Public health should be no different.”

About the Save HIV Funding Campaign: Launched in 2023 by PrEP4All, AVAC, and the HIV Medicine Association in partnership with the Federal AIDS Policy Partnership, the Save HIV Funding campaign is supported by over 150 national and local organizations. The campaign began in response to proposed Congressional cuts to federal HIV programs and has successfully helped avert over $3 billion in domestic HIV funding cuts. In early 2025, the campaign expanded in response to the Trump Administration’s escalating efforts to dismantle essential HIV services and infrastructure. Today, Save HIV Funding continues to mobilize advocates, patients, healthcare providers, and public figures to ensure access to lifesaving care for everyone impacted by HIV.