The Trump administration has rejected the remaining few health officials who oversee the care of some of the world’s most vulnerable people. There are over 500,000 children and over 600,000 pregnant women with HIV in low-income countries.
The specialized team that managed the management program to prevent newborns from acquiring HIV from their mothers and provide treatment to infected children was eliminated last week in a chaotic reorganization by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Some of the outcomes of the termination are only now clear.
While it was known that some staff dedicated to HIV prevention in other countries have been lost, the New York Times has learned that all such experts have been fired or are waiting for reallocation at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the State Department, and the International Development Agency.
These mothers’ health programs are still funded by the President’s emergency plan for AIDS relief or Pepfarr. However, it is not clear how work will continue without anyone managing the initiative or paying for it.
The Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to requests for comment.
“I hope this is no longer important to treat mothers and children, and this is not a sign that this is a correctable mistake,” the federal health department spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
The stakes are high. AIDS under the age of 15 dies every seven minutes in sub-Saharan Africa.
A survey in the Lancet on Tuesday estimated that suspending Pepfer could lead to around 1 million new HIV infections by 2030, killing about 500,000 AIDS among children, and an additional 2.8 million orphans.
After the early Trump administration froze all foreign aid, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a waiver that allowed them to provide “core life-saving medicine, health services” and other US-funded activities.
The Pepfar-specific exemption later prevented the transmission of HIV to mothers and children, and continued explicitly and continued support for programs intended to provide care for infected women and children.
Documents that allow aid to prepare resumes take several weeks after the exemption is issued, and some organizations are just beginning to receive the federal funds needed to run the program.
“We can dismantle something very quickly, but now we’re trying to build it with just a small portion of our staff and a potentially 5% of our institutional knowledge,” said a federal official who is not allowed to speak to news media.
All pediatric HIV experts participated in the USAID eruption and left a single unit at the CDC with expertise to advise international programs. That team was lost in a reorganization last week, along with another team that handles payments for funds for 300 grants in more than 40 countries.
Given the State Department’s exemption, these layoffs were a surprise to federal health workers and the organizations that rely on them.
“We had a clear understanding that HIV services for mothers and children fall under that waiver,” said Dr. Anja Gifert, vice president of medicine and science at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
The foundation relies on approximately 60% of the CDC’s budget. “We completely blinded that the entire CDC unit was finished,” she said.
The organization has been promised funds until September. However, only a few were allowed to use the payment system on CDC
“Everyone is screaming to find a way to pay for their country teams and partners,” said a CDC official who called for anonymity in fear of retaliation.
Other experts said they were not surprised to see the screaming from the CDC HIV team despite the waiver.
“What we saw is that there is no rhyme or reason for any of the actions the administration is doing,” said Gilea Lethobosian, chief of staff for the Biden administration’s Pepfer.
Care for children with HIV and pregnant women is complicated.
Infants require a different HIV test than those used in adults, and infected babies must take another medication. If treatment is interrupted, they will succumb to complications immediately.
“Time is essential, especially when you think about children,” Dr. Gifert said. “That doesn’t seem to be taking into account all of these changes actually happening.”
In low-income countries, pregnant women with HIV are usually treated at prenatal clinics. Without treatment, one in three pregnant women can give HIV to the baby.
Treatment decreases Risk of infection to less than 1%. I have Pepfer It prevented nearly 8 million This type of infection has been occurring in newborns since its founding in 2003.
The freeze on foreign aid imposed in January caused shortages of pediatric HIV drugs in many countries, causing delays in new HIV drug treatments.
The dismissed CDC experts were helping low-income countries prepare for this transition, track inventory and directing drugs to places with the most urgent needs, said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
“This adjustment is especially important for now, as we are in an age of immeasurable change,” the official said.
Source: www.nytimes.com
