TELL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS TO #SAVEHIVFUNDING!
U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives
Thanks to the support of advocates and community members who supported the #SaveHIVFunding campaign in 2023, we were able to successfully avert $767 million in domestic HIV funding cuts proposed by the House majority, as well as lift up calls for a National PrEP Program.
With your support, we were able to build bipartisan support to fund HIV prevention and treatment services for another year. Unfortunately, we are again dealing with over $700 million in proposed cuts to HIV funding by as we get closer to the 2030 federal deadline for ending the HIV epidemic.
US funding has resulted in treatment access for at least half a million Americans living with HIV who receive support annually. Domestic HIV prevention efforts have accelerated with the establishment of the first National HIV/AIDS Strategy in 2010 and the announcement of the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative in 2019, resulting in a 16% reduction in new HIV infections since 2017 in America’s most highly affected jurisdictions. If we maintain and expand HIV funding, we can finally bring the epidemic under control for all American communities.
In contrast, over $700 million loss to domestic funding would put all existing progress at risk. Every new HIV infection in the US creates $501,000 in lifetime healthcare costs, a figure many advocates believe is a huge underestimate. An increase of just 2,000 new cases in the US will add billions to our national debt and wipe out any potential savings that could be achieved. Five thousand Americans still die from AIDS-related causes each year. HIV funding has a high return on investment in terms of improving health and reducing costs.. We must ensure ongoing funding for key support services.
We are asking for your support again! By signing-on to our petition to representatives in Congress, you can help avoid drastic cuts to HIV funding, while calling for increased funding to HIV prevention, treatment, and support services.
Sponsored by
To:
U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives
From:
[Your Name]
The Honorable Tammy Baldwin
Chair
Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human
Services, Education and Related Agencies
Committee on Appropriations
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Robert Aderholt
Chair
Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human
Services, Education, and Related Agencies
Committee on Appropriations
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Shelley Moore Capito
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human
Services, Education and Related Agencies
Committee on Appropriations
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Rosa DeLauro
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human
Services, Education, and Related Agencies
Committee on Appropriations
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Re: FY25 appropriations request #SaveHIVFunding
Dear Chairs Baldwin and Aderholt and Ranking Members Capito and DeLauro,
On behalf of a wide coalition of HIV and health organizations and advocates, the XXX organizations and individual signers below, including people living with and affected by HIV, respectfully urge you to support the HIV funding levels and report language proposed by the Senate LHHS appropriations subcommittee for HIV funding.
We are deeply concerned that the House LHHS appropriations subcommittee has proposed cutting over $700 million from federal HIV programs in FY25 that are critical to our communities, including eliminating funds specifically designated for the bipartisan Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative. Now is the time to ensure that we will not turn our backs on people living with HIV and that we remain committed to our efforts to end HIV as an epidemic by 2030. Should these threats to our progress come to pass, we will miss our national targets to end the epidemic, undermine the successful work of HIV clinics and service organizations across the country, and threaten the lives and wellbeing of communities all across the US.
To allow these catastrophic cuts to occur would be particularly devastating as we find our movement on the verge of significant, and long sought victories. US investments in research have driven forward the advent of effective treatment, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for people who may be at risk for HIV, and research confirming that people living with HIV who achieve an undetectable viral load cannot transmit the virus sexually. Research at NIH and investments in services for people living with HIV, have resulted in effective treatment access for over half a million Americans living with HIV through the Ryan White Program and have critically furthered the U.S. goal of ending the HIV epidemic by 2030. The bipartisan National HIV/AIDS Strategy and Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) initiative have resulted in a 21% reduction in new HIV cases since 2017 in America’s most highly affected jurisdictions. Such efforts along with the CDC moving forward a National PrEP Program and exciting new long-acting treatment and prevention options, are the building blocks to bring the epidemic under control in the U.S.
In contrast, losses to domestic funding would cost our communities and our nation dearly. All existing progress would be put at risk. Every new HIV case in the US translates into more than half a million dollars in lifetime healthcare costs, meaning that even an increase of just 1,000 new cases in the US will erase any savings House appropriators are hoping to achieve and indeed cost much more in the long run. Five thousand Americans still die from AIDS-related causes each year. Those numbers will grow if we cannot ensure ongoing funding for key support services.
We ask that you work to ensure full funding for our country’s anti-HIV efforts. Our nation’s historic response to HIV/AIDS has been in so many ways a bipartisan victory and a source of pride for Democrats and Republicans alike. It is an inspiring story of what can happen when we place politics aside and invest in scientific progress and compassionate services that open the door to effective treatment and prevention. We hope that you will join us to honor this history, to lift up our ongoing progress in saving lives and preventing HIV transmission.
Sincerely,
[SIGNING INDIVIDUAL AND ORGANIZATIONS]
CC: Members of Congress