Rutgers Global Health Expert Available to Discuss Trump’s Freeze on HIV/AIDS Treatment in Africa

As part of a freeze on foreign aid, the Trump administration instructed health organizations in other countries to stop distributing HIV/AIDS medications purchased with aid from the United States. Included in the freeze is the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which is estimated to have delivered lifesaving treatment to as many as 26 million people since 2003.

Ric Marlink, Henry Rutgers Professor of Global Health and Director of Rutgers Global Health Institute, is available to speak on this issue. The following is available for pickup:

Marlink warns suspending foreign aid without warning or planning will directly impact HIV treatment worldwide and lead directly to more infections and deaths.

“This is a terrible situation to halt distribution of the lifesaving AIDS medications that are already there “on the shelf” ready to be used. This will mean that both adults and children will die,” Marlink also says. “If AIDS treatment is interrupted, drug resistance on a large scale may also begin.”

For over ten years, Marlink worked alongside multiple African governments to lead the U.S. side of the PEPFAR partnerships in Botswana and five other countries. In a 2023 testimony to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Marlink said, “I have seen first-hand how PEPFAR’s HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment services were literally lifesaving with hospitals emptying as people returned to their families and workplaces.”