November 14, 2024
In the days, months and years ahead under a new US presidential administration, advocacy for choice, freedom, science, and rights will require intentional strategies to protect hard fought gains in HIV treatment and prevention and in global health generally, and to safeguard policies and programs that advance it. What to do?
For a start, listen to AVAC’s newest PxPulse podcast. Jen Kates, Senior Vice President, Director of Global Health & HIV Policy at KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research organization and AVAC’s Director of Policy, Suraj Madoori lay out the challenges and the priorities in 2025 and beyond.
As the field prepares for new US leadership, advocates must take stock, identify allies, work in solidarity and seize opportunities. In the months and years to come, AVAC will be there, offering tools, analysis, and perspectives to support our collective work to advance HIV prevention and equity in global health.
The Trump administration will likely have a fundamentally different worldview about US engagement in global health and in development. One that is much more isolationist, much more transactional. Why should the US be engaged in these programs? What is in it for us? And I think the challenges that will come up there, is where or will the US continue to play a leadership role diplomatically, financially, because the US is the largest funder of all global health programs.
There’s such a vibrant advocacy community outside the United States who want to engage their own governments in mobilizing domestic resources for HIV, who want to share their stories to Congress about the impact of PEPFAR and other lifesaving programs. That is a lot of untapped advocacy and a lot of North-South collaboration that will be so important to get us through at least the next two years into the midterms, if not the entire four years of this new administration.