Goats and Soda : NPR

Last week, the State Department issued a brief statement saying, “Awareness Day is not a strategy.” As a result, the United States does not observe World AIDS Day on December 1st. This is the first time the US has not participated in the program since the World Health Organization established the day in 1988 to remember millions of people who died from AIDS-related illnesses and are once again taking on the fight against an epidemic that still kills more than half a million people every year.

In contrast, last year former President Joe Biden held a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House with AIDS Memorial Quilt — with coffin-shaped patches, each dedicated to a person who died from AIDS-related illnesses, scattered on the grass. And this year, despite the Trump administration's change of heart, countries around the world are marking the day with proclamations, public health campaigns and commemorations.

Then and now

President Trump has nothing planned for this year, and the State Department has instructed staff not to observe the day.

Tommy Pigott, a State Department spokesman, confirmed the decision not to observe the day, writing in a statement that the country is “modernizing our approach to fighting infectious diseases” and that “under President Trump's leadership, the State Department is working directly with foreign governments to save lives and increase their responsibility and burden-sharing.”

Some HIV/AIDS activists reacted to the news with disappointment and protest.

“I think it's symbolic of an administration that doesn't seem to care,” he said. Mitchell WarrenExecutive Director of AVAC, a global HIV prevention organization based in the United States.

The United States has consistently been the largest financial contributor to the global fight against HIV/AIDS, primarily through President George W. Bush's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which has invested more than $110 billion into a global effort since its launch in 2003.

But since the start of President Trump's second term nearly a year ago, his administration has made significant cuts to global spending and health programs, championing an “America First” approach and emphasizing that countries are withdrawing aid. This has disrupted HIV/AIDS care in many parts of the world, including making it difficult for some HIV-positive people to obtain medications in places such as ZambiaDemocratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia and Kenya, according to UNAIDS.

“Is this a symbolic act? Yes, it is, and it symbolizes something really destructive and chaotic,” says Warren.

The US is not alone in cutting international aid: Other countries, including France, Germany and the UK, have reduced foreign aid as priorities change. UNAIDS report warned of “devastating consequences” for World AIDS Day this year.

Protesters gathered outside the White House on Monday demanding that funding be restored. Asia Russell—executive director of Health GAP, a global HIV advocacy organization—was one of them. She says the decision not to celebrate the day was reminiscent of the early days of HIV/AIDS, when the disease was highly stigmatized and ignored as a public health crisis.

In recent years, medical advances have meant that progress has been made in combating new injections of HIV/AIDS and in providing treatment to those already infected.

“So what's missing is political will, and that lack of political will was devastatingly demonstrated when the White House announced it would ban commemorations of this pandemic. It's really depraved and outrageous,” Russell says, adding that there were about 100 other people at the protest.

The decision not to observe World AIDS Day is consistent with the administration's broader approach to the WHO and the United Nations more broadly. Trump has criticized multilateral organizations such as the UN and the WHO's handling of COVID. One of his first steps on Inauguration Day was to begin the process US withdrawal from WHO. However, the Trump administration also observed other UN-designated days, such as World Autism Awareness Day. The White House published proclamation for this day.

World AIDS Day “only exists on the calendar because of pressure from people with HIV and their communities fighting stigma,” Russell says. “The commemoration day, no matter how insignificant it may seem, is actually a life-saving work to get rid of this deadly stigma.”