Doctors and public health advocates were once able to imagine the end of the HIV epidemic in our lifetime. The last four decades of scientific advancements had delivered new treatments and preventive medications that significantly curbed the rates of transmission and impacts of the once deadly virus. The number of new infections has dropped from more than 130,000 in the mid- 1980s to 37,000 by 2022 — and mortality rates have steadily dropped.

Millions in federal funding — supported by Democratic and Republican leadership alike ― had helped buoy a swath of programs and research into new injectable drugs for HIV prevention and treatment, which are long-lasting and less burdensome than daily medication, and can be used to address HIV disparities across race, gender and sexual orientation both in the United States and internationally.

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But in March, that glimmer of hope began to fade as the Trump administration decimated the nation’s HIV prevention programs as part of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s drastic overhaul of the Department of Health and Human Services agency.