The US has celebrated World AIDS Day – the first global day dedicated to the health issue – since its creation in 1988. From left: President Joe Biden delivers remarks at a World AIDS Day event on the South Lawn of the White House on Dec. 1, 2024. President George W. Bush celebrates World AIDS Day with First Lady Laura Bush on the North Lawn of the White House on December 1, 2008.
Annabelle Gordon/Getty Images; Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
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Annabelle Gordon/Getty Images; Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
The State Department issued a brief statement last week saying, “Awareness Day is not a strategy.” The result is that the United States is no longer observing World AIDS Day on December 1. This is the first time since the World Health Organization created the day to commemorate it in 1988 that the US has not participated. millions of people who have died from AIDS-related diseases and are recommitted to fighting the epidemic that still takes the lives of 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 AIDS Memorial Quilt – each with a coffin-shaped patch honoring a person who died of AIDS-related causes – spread out on the grass. And this year, despite the Trump administration’s change of heart, countries around the world are celebrating the day with proclamations, public health campaigns and commemorative ceremonies.
then and Now
President Trump has not planned anything for this year and the State Department has instructed staff not to mark the day.
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott confirmed the decision not to commemorate the day, writing in a statement that the country is “modernizing our approach to combating infectious diseases” and that “under President Trump’s leadership, the State Department is working directly with foreign governments to save lives and share their responsibility and burden.”
Some HIV/AIDS activists reacted to the news with dismay and with protests.
“I think it’s a symbol of an administration that doesn’t care,” he said Michelle WarrenExecutive Director of AVAC, a US-based global HIV prevention organization
The United States has consistently been a top financial supporter of the global fight against HIV/AIDS, primarily through President George W. Bush’s President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, which has invested more than that. $110 billion In a global effort since its launch in 2003.
However, since the beginning of President Trump’s second term nearly a year ago, his administration has made major cuts to global health spending and programs as it supports an America First approach and emphasizes cutting aid to countries. This has disrupted HIV/AIDS care in many parts of the world – making it challenging for some HIV-positive individuals to obtain their medication in such places. zambiaAccording to UNAIDS, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia and Kenya.
Warren says, “Is it a symbolic act? Yes, it is and it symbolizes something that is really destructive and chaotic.”
The US is not alone in reducing international aid, other countries including France, Germany and the United Kingdom have reduced foreign aid due to changing priorities. unaids report It warned of “devastating consequences” for World AIDS Day this year.
Protesters gathered outside the White House on Monday to demand 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 mark the day is reminiscent of the early days of the HIV/AIDS fight 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 HIV/AIDS infections and treating those already infected.
“So what’s missing is political will, and the lack of political will was on devastating display when the White House announced it would ban commemorations of this pandemic. It’s really outrageous and outrageous,” Russell says, adding that there were about 100 other people at the protest.
The decision not to observe World AIDS Day is in line with the Administration’s broader approach to WHO and the United Nations. Trump has been critical of multilateral organizations like the United Nations and the WHO’s handling of COVID. One of his first steps, on inauguration day, was to begin the process of Removing America from WHOHowever, the Trump administration has also marked other days designated by the United Nations, such as World Autism Awareness Day, The White House issued a Announcement For that day.
“World AIDS Day only exists on the calendar because of pressure from people living with HIV and their communities fighting against stigma,” Russell says. “A Memorial Day, as small as it may sound, is actually a life-saving action to remove that deadly stigma.”
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