Modern HIV treatment and prevention can make possible the goal of ending the HIV epidemic. People living with HIV who remain on successful treatment and achieve an undetectable viral load can live a near-normal lifespan and cannot transmit HIV to others. The adoption of pre-exposure prophylaxis by people who are HIV negative can also decrease HIV acquisition by up to 97 percent. President Trump’s State of the Union pledge to end the HIV epidemic in the United States by 2030 is thus not just an aspiration, but a mission we can accomplish.

The Trump administration’s budget request for fiscal 2020 seems to back his pledge with the resources needed to make it possible. Guided by an adequately funded new federal HIV strategy, the aim is to provide support to 48 counties, the District of Columbia, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and seven states with the highest number of new HIV diagnoses in the country. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, these cities, municipalities, and states, viral “hot-spots,” accounted for more than 50 percent of new HIV diagnoses in recent years.