Today the world commemorates World AIDS Day, that is, except here in the United States, the first time since 1993 that the President will not issue a proclamation calling for programs to take on HIV infection. In fact, the House Republican 2026 budget proposal will end all HIV prevention program spending.
What a stroke of genius! We’ll simply eliminate HIV because everyone who gets it will just simply die because of the lack of government support for the meds to keep infected people alive. The House bill also eliminates $525 million from the Ryan White Program, including grants to over 400 HIV/AIDS clinics providing care and treatment and the $165 million in EHE funding being used to bring more people into care and treatment.
Add to this the elimination of programs for HIV programs outside the U.S., and you have a recipe for disaster. Some of us may remember the early 80s when HIV was a death sentence. Without the meds, people will die. Those good Christians who eliminate HIV funding not only have blood on their hands; but blood on their souls as well.
Prayer for the Day
Merciful Creator, you anoint our afflictions and cleanse our wounds,
May the wounds we have caused others be forgiven;
Redeeming God, you bind up the broken hearted and despairing,
May our actions turn despair into hope.
Be the pearls of wisdom in our lives, transforming us
Into living models of the One who opened us to your life
In the name of the One who is your life in the world,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen
Thoughts for the Day
The painful irony is that HIV is now one of the most preventable and treatable infectious diseases on the planet.
Nikki Tehrani, grad student, Yale School for Public Health
We know that when people have HIV and it goes untreated, they die, and often they die horrible, painful deaths,” Cooper said. “And I'm not just talking about people who do ‘dirty things’ or ‘nasty things.’ I'm talking about people who perhaps were born living with HIV, or people who got it and didn't even know that they had it, or didn't know that their partners had it, folks who have been in monogamous relationships for years, it's all kinds of folks.
Tori Cooper, health/community engagement consultant
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint;
My heart is like wax, It is melted within my breast.
My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to m jaws;
You lay me in the jaws of death. But you, O Lord, do not be far away!
O, my help, come quickly to my aid.
Psalm 22: 14-15, 19