It's far too early to predict what will be the Trump administration's most devastating impact on human health, but there's a good chance the answer will involve HIV/AIDS. After all, his support staff includes Mike Pence, who allowed a completely avoidable HIV outbreak in his home state and had the breathtakingly insane idea of moving funds from the Ryan White Program, the payer of last resort for people with HIV/AIDS, into gay conversion therapy. He also hired Katy Talento, a health policy advisor who tried to kill more than $100 million in NIH research funds because she confused studying HIV among sex workers with supporting Russian prostitution. And while Trump himself hasn't said much about the disease, that's part of the problem. On the campaign trail, he illustrated his disregard for the issue by failing to complete an HIV/AIDS strategy survey by the Gay Men's Health Crisis, the first AIDS service organization.
Why should we be worried about Trump's potential impact on HIV/AIDS? Let's count the ways: If the ACA is repealed, Medicaid expansion is reversed, affordable housing and food stamps are cut, immigrants are scared to get tested or treated, and PEPFAR is scaled back or run on morals, not science, Trump's legacy may be igniting a national and global AIDS crisis.
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