Future federal support for National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day uncertain
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National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day falls on the first day of spring each year. The day encourages Native Americans across the United States to get educated about HIV as well knowing their testing and treatment options.
In the past, the national day has been supported by the federal administration, but support this year appears to have been withdrawn with the future funding uncertainty for HIV prevention programs.
An event was held at the Minneapolis American Indian Center to honor the day and brought together local health and resource programs for community members to speak with. The event also provided free testing and information regarding the prevention of HIV.
“It’s really just a day to have a community event do a lot of testing and help people figure out what other kinds of services they need,” said Sharon Day, one of the founders of the Indigenous Peoples Task Force.
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The organization is formally known as the Minnesota American Indian AIDS Task Force, founded in 1987. It was founded to develop and implement culturally appropriate HIV education and services to Native communities in Minnesota.
This year’s support from the federal administration appears to have been withdrawn and taken down from the Center for Disease and Control’s website according to Day.
“This illness is still among us. COVID was only around for, what a couple of years, before they developed a vaccination. Well, there still is no vaccination for HIV,” Day said.
Dylan Boyer is the director of development at the Aliveness Project, a Minneapolis-based organization that helps those living with or at risk of HIV. He says news of the Trump administration considering eliminating the CDC’s HIV prevention program began circulating within national and local programs beginning Tuesday.
“These are unnecessary cuts,” he said.
In 2023, the CDC spent around $1.3 billion to prevent and control the spread of HIV, viral hepatitis, STIs, tuberculosis, infectious diseases and the opioid epidemic as well as to promote adolescent and school health. Considerations to eliminate programming may be in part of sweeping cuts to other health care programs.
“We know statistically that people of color face higher rates of HIV and other medical ailments, and HIV is no different,” Boyer said. “This is a community that is most vulnerable, and with these cuts, we will see more HIV cases.”
In a 2023 report from the Minnesota Department of Health, nearly 10,000 people in the state are living with HIV. Two-thirds of new HIV cases that year affected communities of color.
“We have the tools and the resources and the power to end HIV. We just need the will to end HIV,” Boyer said. He says preventative measures like pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, a medication taken to reduce the chances of getting an HIV infection, could be at risk.
Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan spoke at the event on Thursday.
“There are lots of conversations that are happening about HIV funding for treatment and prevention at the federal level,” Flanagan said. “It is incredibly important that we tell the stories of this life saving care and life saving prevention work, because our stories are the most powerful tool in our toolbox right now.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey also spoke at the event, sharing passionately that he does not agree with potential eliminations.
“The decisions that are coming down are neither wise or smart, and they certainly aren't done in the best interest of the communities that we all are charged with serving and keeping safe and healthy,” he said.
Day says there is some concern, as the task force receives funding directly from the CDC. However, she believes in Indigenous resilience.
“AIDS hasn’t gone away, HIV hasn’t gone away,” Day said. “We’ve always had to deal with these kinds of things, but we’ve always found a way and we will continue to find a way.”
No final announcement has been made yet about the CDC’s HIV prevention program’s elimination.