南加州醫療機構憂心：HIV預防預算被砍，恐將付出生命代價

📝 記者 James Rainey ｜2025年3月29日

美國川普政府近期傳出可能削減HIV與愛滋預防的關鍵計畫，讓南加州兩大LGBTQ+服務機構公開表達強烈不滿。

洛杉磯的LGBT中心與Coachella Valley的DAP Health表示，若美國疾管署（CDC）HIV預防部門的經費被大幅刪減，可能會導致許多生命喪失，甚至讓納稅人未來面臨更高的醫療支出。

《華爾街日報》在3月中首度披露這項消息，當時一名發言人稱尚未「做出最終決定」。本週再被問及最新狀況時，CDC發言人將問題轉交給衛生與公共服務部（HHS），但對方未作回應，白宮也同樣未表態。

📉 根據報導，近年HIV感染率的下降與CDC提供的經費息息相關。2018至2022年間，美國整體下降12%，在CDC聚焦的50個地區甚至下降了21%。

洛杉磯LGBT中心表示，他們目前仍不清楚自己用於HIV篩檢與預防藥的45萬美元補助是否會被終止。

該中心執行長 Joe Hollendoner 表示：「過去這些投資讓我們在終結HIV上取得了很大的進展⋯⋯但若照目前這樣砍經費，真的會造成生命的流失。」

DAP Health執行長 David Brinkman 則指出，若預算被砍，反而會增加支出。他引用研究指出，1名HIV感染者的終身治療費用約為50萬美元（約新台幣1,600萬）。若新感染人數增加3600人，就會讓原本想省下的18億美元全都回補回去。

「而我們都知道，這波削減將影響數以萬計的生命。」Brinkman說。

🗣️ Coachella Valley選區的國會議員 Raul Ruiz 也是前急診室醫師，他強調：「CDC的HIV預防部門對於降低新感染、節省龐大醫療費用及確保民眾取得救命藥物都有關鍵作用。」

他與100多位民主黨議員聯名寫信給川普，提醒他在2019年第一任期時曾承諾要終結HIV流行，而其中一大支柱就是「預防」。

DAP Health的C.J. Tobe則說：「這根本是180度大轉彎，讓人完全搞不懂，還很令人痛心。」

💥 除了HIV防治經費，CNN也報導，美國國衛院（NIH）近期取消了數十項HIV相關研究經費，包括許多PrEP預防用藥的研究計畫。海外防治方面，美國對外援助機構也幾乎被解散，未來全球防治HIV的努力恐怕會大幅倒退。

《刺胳針》期刊一項研究指出，若美國與其他主要資助國持續減少援助，全球到2030年可能新增440萬至1070萬例HIV感染，導致77萬至300萬人死亡。

這份研究警告：「若資金縮減無法被彌補，HIV防治成果將在2030年前大幅倒退，並對撒哈拉以南非洲與其他弱勢族群造成極大衝擊。」

Southern California healthcare agencies fear cuts to HIV prevention will cost lives

By James Rainey

Staff WriterFollow

March 29, 2025 12:36 PM PT

• Share
• 43

Statements from the Trump administration that officials are considering cuts to key programs for the prevention of HIV and AIDS are generating outrage among two of the largest LGBTQ+ service organizations in Southern California.

Leaders of the LGBT Center in Los Angeles and DAP Health in the Coachella Valley said that a sharp cut in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of HIV Prevention could endanger many lives and potentially drive up the long-term cost to taxpayers, if incidence of the virus that causes AIDS increases.

When the Wall Street Journal first broke news of the potential cut in mid-March, a spokesman said no “final decision” had been made “on streamlining CDC’s HIV Prevention Division.”

Advertisement

Asked this week for an update, CDC spokesman Nicholas Spinelli referred questions to the agency’s parent organization, the Department of Health and Human Services, which did not respond. The White House also did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

Health agencies across the nation have helped drive down the incidence of HIV, largely through testing, counseling and the distribution of medications that prevent the spread of the disease. Much of the funding for that work came from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rate of decline was 12% nationally between 2018 and 2022, with an even sharper 21% in the 50 local areas where the CDC focused its prevention efforts.

The LGBT Center in Los Angeles, which provides outreach, testing and HIV-preventative medications, said it has been left in limbo about what will become of its $450,000 CDC grant to support that work.

Advertisement

“We have seen tremendous gains in the fight to end HIV because of the real investments that have been made in prevention and care,” said Joe Hollendoner, CEO of the LGBT Center. “We’ve even been talking about how, in our lifetime, we could end the HIV epidemic and get to zero new cases.”

“But if we are terminating HIV prevention contracts in the way that we anticipate … it is not hyperbole to say it’s going to cost human lives.”

That echoed concerns voiced by DAP Health, which operates 25 clinics in Riverside and San Diego counties, including many in the Coachella Valley, which has a large gay population and where the HIV rate is four times the national average.

Advertisement

“This ‘cost-saving’ strategy of decimating the CDC’s HIV prevention program will only increase costs, both human and financial,” David Brinkman, the CEO of DAP Health, said in a statement.

For the record:

4:44 p.m. March 30, 2025An earlier version of this story said research showed the average cost of lifetime treatment for a patient with HIV is about $500,000 a year. The indicated research shows that cost is about $500,000 total.

Brinkman pointed to research that showed the average cost of lifetime treatment for a patient who contracts HIV to be about $500,000. The estimated potential “savings” of $1.8 billion if the federal disease agency eliminates the HIV program would quickly disappear if more than 3,600 Americans were newly infected, Brinkman said, adding: “And we know the toll of lives impacted by HIV with this slashing will be in the tens of thousands.”

Utah becomes the first state to ban fluoride in public drinking water

March 28, 2025

An outspoken voice against a possible reduction or elimination of the anti-HIV program is Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Palm Desert), a former emergency room doctor who represents the Coachella Valley.

“The CDC’s Division of HIV Prevention plays a vital role in reducing new infections, saving billions in preventable health care costs, and ensuring that individuals can access life-saving medication,” Ruiz said in a statement.

Ruiz noted that the CDC program also plays a central role in responding to viral hepatitis and TB. The congressman joined 100 other Democrats in the House and Senate in sending a letter to President Trump, urging him to reconsider any plan to reduce or eliminate the disease prevention program.

The lawmakers reminded Trump that during his first term, in 2019, he declared the goal of ending the HIV epidemic. “One of the pillars of your initiative, as shown on CDC’s website, is prevention,” the letter said. “It is imperative that you uphold this commitment.”

C.J. Tobe, chief transformation officer for DAP Health, said the Trump administration’s potential change of course seemed inexplicable.

“It’s a 180-degree turn, to threaten to take this away,” Tobe said. “It feels personal and it makes zero sense.”

Confusion and turmoil have also enveloped U.S. government-supported research around HIV.

CNN reported this week that the National Institutes of Health had eliminated funding for dozens of HIV-related research grants. The news outlet cited a Department of Health and Human Services database and quoted scientists who said the cuts would also deal a crippling blow to the goal of ending HIV.

Deadly, drug-resistant fungus CDC calls ‘urgent threat’ is spreading in hospitals

March 27, 2025

Among those on the chopping block were grants related to PrEP, the regimen of drugs that can thwart HIV infection, scientists told the New York Times.

Funding for intervention against the disease overseas also appeared endangered when the Trump administration froze foreign aid and then all but eliminated the U.S. Agency for International Development, the main American agency for delivering assistance to other countries.

A study published in the Lancet said that a reduction in support from the U.S. and other major funding countries could lead to 4.4 million to 10.7 million new HIV infections worldwide by 2030, killing 770,000 to nearly 3 million more people.

“Unmitigated funding reductions could significantly reverse progress in the HIV response by 2030, disproportionately affecting sub-Saharan African countries and key and vulnerable populations,” the study said.

原文取自：https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-03-29/trump-hiv-prevention-cuts-feared