President Trump’s proposed fiscal 2021 budget calls for $716 million in funding for his initiative to eliminate new HIV infections, $425 million more than Congress allocated in December.
“$716 million in new money is a serious investment in this program,” Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary for health, said on Monday.
The largest shares of the 2021 budget, $673 million in total, will go to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s HIV prevention programs and the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, which supports state-level HIV healthcare services.
Trump’s proposed budget would also dedicate $27 million to the Indian Health Service, which did not receive funding in the 2020 fiscal year. The IHS offers programs to help prevent the spread of HIV in American Indian communities and offers medical care for those diagnosed with HIV.
The funding will go into Trump’s “Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America” initiative, which he announced in his 2019 State of the Union address.
Giroir said in his address to the President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS that Trump is dedicated to following through on the goals laid out in the 2019 initiative, saying that “he never fails to ask about HIV … ‘How is the progress going and what needs to be done?’”
