‘People will die based on these decisions’: Trump administration cuts funding for dozens of HIV studies

The NIH has eliminated funding for dozens of HIV-related research grants, according to a US Department of Health and Human Services database that was updated last week, halting studies and threatening patient care across the country. Several researchers said the cuts put a stop to hopes of ending HIV in the US and around the world.

At the end of last week, Dr. Colleen Kelley said she was getting texts about every 10 minutes from colleagues whose HIV-related research grants were being terminated by the federal government. “This is just pure chaos and insanity,” said Kelley, chair of the HIV Medicine Association. The National Institutes of Health canceled two grants last week for HIV projects she was working on, as well as funding for a large HIV clinical trial network she was involved with. “It’s just a massive, massive bloodbath,” Kelley said. The NIH has eliminated funding for dozens of HIV-related research grants, according to a US Department of Health and Human Services database that was updated last week, halting studies and threatening patient care across the country. Several researchers said the cuts put a stop to hopes of ending HIV in the US and around the world. “The termination of numerous federal grants for HIV prevention and treatment is a cause for alarm,” Dr. Perry Halkitis, dean and Hunterdon Professor of Public Health & Health Equity at Rutgers University, wrote in an email to CNN. The NIH canceled funds for a Rutgers project examining stigma and aging among HIV-positive and -negative men who have sex with men. “HIV remains a significant public health challenge throughout the nation, particularly for sexual and gender minority individuals and people of color,” Halkitis wrote. “As a public health dean, HIV researcher for over two decades, and proud gay man, I am deeply concerned about the impacts these grant eliminations will have on our ability to end AIDS.”