Trump's Trials - After big cuts, U.S. says HIV work abroad is going well. Experts disagree

Episode Date: April 20, 2026

The Trump administration has released new data on the country's HIV/AIDS work abroad. It is claiming the numbers are good news, but many HIV experts say they paint a worrisome picture.Support NPR and hear every episode of Trump's Terms sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

You're listening to Trump's terms. I'm Scott Detrow. President Trump promised every single American that he would make America safe again. Every single day in the Oval Office, the president looks at us and says, why haven't we done more? This will be an entirely different country in a short period of time. Every episode, we bring you one story from NPR's recent coverage of the 47th president. With a focus on ways his administration is pushing the boundaries of presidential power. Here's the latest from NPR. I'm Leila Faldin.

The State Department has new data on the U.S.'s work on HIV AIDS around the world. The Department says that data shows things are working well. But as NPR's Gabrielle Emanuel reports, HIV experts dispute that take, and their warning, funding cuts could help the virus spread. PEPFAR, or the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, is lauded for having saved over 26 million lives, since President George W. Bush launched it in 2003.

It was also lauded for regularly providing high-quality data on the HIV epidemic. But the data haven't been released since President Trump returned to the White House and overhauled foreign aid. Until now. The numbers are very, very good. Jeremy Lewin of the State Department is hailing the new treatment figures that came out Friday afternoon as a sign of success. The numbers show the U.S. supported some 20 million people globally on HIV treatment as of September last year. That's roughly the same number as a year prior. People will be surprised at how resilient our health programs are and have been.

But many HIV experts find that statement misleading. They say the other numbers are worrisome. They show that a delicate system for preventing and finding HIV cases has been severely disrupted. Brian Honerman is with Ampharm, the Foundation for AIDS Research. About 24% of the frontline health care workers are no longer there. They're no longer being supported. He says, without those health workers, the numbers show big drops in testing for HIV and new people starting treatment. It's hundreds of thousands of people that we would have expected to see, and those people are now just missing. That's bad news for their own

health. And he points out it also allows the virus to continue to spread and potentially research. Gabriela Emmanuel NPR News. Before we wrap up a reminder, you can find more coverage of the Trump administration on the NPR Politics podcast where you can hear NPR's political reporters break down the day's biggest political news with new episodes every weekday afternoon. And thanks, as always, to our NPR Plus supporters who hear every every episode. of the show without sponsor messages. You can learn more at plus.npr.org. I'm Scott Detrow. Thank for listening to Trump's terms from NPR.