The Real Courtney Brown (@courtneybrown.bsky.social)

Trump Administration Slashes $600 Million in HIV & STD Prevention Grants — California, Illinois and More States Hit Hard The Trump administration is moving forward with a sweeping rollback of federal public health funding, cutting $600 million in grants tied to HIV and STD prevention efforts across several states. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grants are being terminated “because they do not reflect agency priorities.” The funding reductions will affect programs in California, Colorado, Illinois, and Minnesota, including state and local health departments, hospitals, universities, and nonprofit organizations. Among the programs impacted are $1.1 million for HIV surveillance in Los Angeles County, $5.2 million awarded to Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago to expand HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use among Black cisgender women, and $7 million allocated to the city of Chicago to research communities disproportionately affected by STDs. A spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget told ABC News the cuts target states with a “history of fraud and mismanagement.” The move follows earlier actions by the administration, including the cancellation of dozens of HIV-related research grants by the National Institutes of Health in March 2025. Officials also previously weighed eliminating the CDC’s Division of HIV Prevention. Advocates warn that the funding cuts could jeopardize decades of progress. Matthew Rose of the Human Rights Campaign said, “Getting people to engage in prevention work is some of the hardest work we do, but it is so meaningful, and we are on the precipice of truly transforming the way that prevention has happened.” He added, “We're finding ways to give people more options than they've ever had before,” noting advances like twice-yearly injectable HIV prevention treatments. State officials in California and Colorado said they have not yet received formal notice of the terminations but pledged to respond once action is finalized. https://balleralert.com/profiles/blogs/trump-administration-cuts-600-million-hiv-std-prevention-grants/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=bluesky