Stop the CDC Cuts – Act Now to Save Lives
There is an immediate threat to CDC prevention funding that includes HIV. These proposed cuts would dismantle critical services, reverse decades of bipartisan progress, and disproportionately harm Southern states, where HIV rates are highest, and healthcare systems are already strained. We are concerned about plans to end domestic HIV prevention funding in the United States. The Ryan White program does not meet the need for HIV prevention in the nation. It is not cost-effective to end federal support for HIV prevention, nor is it effective in attaining the goal of reducing new HIV transmissions. These are immediate threats to HIV prevention, and this is what you can do.
What do these cuts mean for HIV and Southern Communities?
Southern communities will suffer. Southern states rely on CDC funding to offset healthcare and prevention costs. Without it, states will face higher financial burdens (HIV treatment costs an average of $500,000 per person over a lifetime) and overwhelmed clinics. Already fragile healthcare systems, facing cuts to Medicaid, rural hospital closures, and workforce shortages, will face even greater challenges that place lives at risk.
The added reality that 52% of new HIV diagnoses occur in the South makes the region a ground zero for prevention efforts. Cuts will shutter rural clinics, already overburdened due to rural hospital closures, eliminate syringe programs, and diminish outreach to unhoused populations.
CONGRESS MUST ACT NOW TO BLOCK THESE CUTS!
What can you do?
Call your Senators NOW!
- Senate Switchboard: (202) 224-3121 (ask to be connected to your state’s senators).
- Sample Script:
Hello, my name is [name] from [organization/city]. I’m calling to urge Senator [name] to stop the cuts to CDC prevention funding including HIV. These cuts will devastate [state]’s ability to fight HIV, increase long-term healthcare costs, and abandon vulnerable Southern communities. Please use your oversight authority to protect this funding and demand transparency about these harmful changes. Lives depend on your actions.
Contact Local Media & Share On Social Media
- Talking points:
- “Cuts to CDC HIV Funding will reverse 20 years of progress and cost Southern states millions in preventable healthcare spending.”
- “This is a bipartisan issue; ending HIV relies on testing, treatment, and prevention. One of those critical pillars is at risk if Congress doesn’t act.”
- “Our Southern congressional leaders must speak out and assert their oversight authority. Silence will cost lives.”
- Share stories of impact from individuals helped by CDC-funded programs (PrEP users, testing recipients)
- Contact State Health Departments
- Urge health commissioners to publicly oppose the cuts and warn governors about fiscal impact.
HIV funding is fiscally responsible – fewer transmissions equal fewer costs
The South cannot afford to lose rural clinics or mobile testing units – these programs keep our communities healthy.
These cuts violate America’s bipartisan pledge to end HIV by 2030.
Additional Resources
