Latest news with #RyanWhite
Fox News
28-04-2025
- Health
- Fox News
How a DOGE review can actually improve the programs that fight HIV/AIDS
President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency have been aggressively overhauling the bloated and cumbersome U.S. federal bureaucracy by re-examining contracts, questioning what taxpayer dollars are funding and who that funding is going to. The public health sector hasn't been immune, with the Trump administration poring over the layers of bureaucracy and freezing or canceling millions in grants. Countless programs within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including those designed to target the treatment and spread of HIV/AIDS, are, or will be, in the crosshairs. As a former White House director of national AIDS policy who was one of the chief architects of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the first director of the HIV/AIDS Bureau at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and as an LGBT conservative with a career in medicine, business, and public health, I believe HIV/AIDS advocates should embrace and support such a review. While it is critical that the United States' demonstrably effective long-standing strategy tackling the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and the resources dedicated to it, remain intact, many of these federal programs have not been re-evaluated in years, nor have they been audited for waste, fraud or abuse. Advocates in support of maintaining the United States' aggressive approach to the HIV/AIDS epidemic should welcome the review of HIV/AIDS specific initiatives to ensure that they are optimally designed to meet the needs of the current epidemic. Take the Ryan White CARE Act, for example, which funds essential healthcare services for uninsured and underinsured individuals living with HIV/AIDS in the U.S. The program, which received $2.5 billion in federal funding in FY 2024, hasn't been reauthorized by Congress since 2009. In that time, the expansion of healthcare coverage through Medicaid substantially reduced the number of people who needed Ryan White support for medical care and pharmaceuticals, yet its budget continued to grow. A reauthorization process would allow for a close look at spending priorities embedded in Ryan White - an initiative that was designed before highly effective HIV/AIDS therapy was even available. Surely, the HIV/AIDS community would do well to see if that funding might be better reallocated elsewhere, such as toward substance abuse and mental health services, or other needed care. DOGE can also remedy unnecessary bureaucratic overlap. The Ryan White program is run through the HRSA, and the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative, started by Trump during his first term, is run through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Despite the programs' complementary missions, they are siloed off into separate entities with their own budgets and staff, resulting in unnecessary administrative overhead costs and potentially wasteful spending. The Trump administration is reportedly looking to streamline these two initiatives into one program run through the HRSA to consolidate the resources and make them more efficient. Advocates for a strong public health response to HIV/AIDS should be open to considering these kinds of commonsense reforms and not wringing their hands or fearmongering to voters. While efficiency is needed, it would be a grave mistake to deprioritize funding for the HIV/AIDS epidemic as national policy. While new cases of the disease are on the decline in the U.S. due to advances in treatment and prevention efforts, data has shown that cutting those efforts leads to spikes in new infections, which in turn burden the healthcare system with costlier care and treatments down the line. Another critical pillar of the U.S. approach to the epidemic is PEPFAR, which funds HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care globally. PEPFAR's value is not only as a cost-effective success in saving millions of lives but also as a means of exerting significant diplomatic influence with dozens of partner nations. Secretary of State Marco Rubio granted PEPFAR a waiver from the initial suspension of global health initiatives in the first days of the Trump administration. That does not mean that PEPFAR should be immune from an audit for inefficiency. Like all federal programs, there must be improvements that can be made and waste that can be cut. PEPFAR's strategy and tactics, however, are undeniably working with an incredible return on investment. Keeping the program efficiently funded should be a bipartisan priority. It's easy to panic over reports of specific cuts or reorganizations to HIV/AIDS programs. Opponents of the Trump administration have every reason to fearmonger around the issue, as federal funding for prevention efforts is generally popular. But, if we genuinely care about the fight against HIV/AIDS, we must recognize that these programs, like the federal government itself, are not perfect. These HIV/AIDS programs are long overdue for auditing, evaluation and perhaps reorganization, and as long as our commitment to fighting the disease remains intact, the United States' efforts will be stronger for it.
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Programs for newborns, people with HIV at risk of federal cuts, Nashville mayor warns
Nashville public health programs could take a major hit, depending on whether yet another round of federal funding cuts proceeds. At his weekly media roundtable last week, Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell flagged a couple ways that $11 billion in potential cuts to public health funding through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services would impact Nashville. Specifically, O'Connell pointed to two local programs — Nashville Strong Babies, which provides services to moms ranging from family planning services to prenatal and postpartum education free of charge, and the Ryan White program, which provides community-based care for low-income people living with HIV in Davidson County and a dozen other Middle Tennessee counties. Here's what else O'Connell had to say about what those programs stand to lose. If the cuts are allowed to proceed, O'Connell warned that they'll lead to direct impacts at the Metro Health Department, which facilitates both programs. Services to 426 families through the Strong Babies program would be affected, and the health department could lose upwards of 20 jobs. That would affect more than 50% of the program's services, O'Connell said. 'When we're able to demonstrate the success of return on public investment, I'm just left wondering what sense it makes to cut funds to programs like that,' O'Connell said last week. 'Ultimately, the greatest potential impact would be that we return to an era when there are significant points of discrimination within prenatal and early childhood care that could be at risk.' O'Connell said that could mean a return to higher infant mortality rates, especially in communities of color, and more mothers dying during pregnancy. The Ryan White program, meanwhile, also is firmly in the crosshairs. O'Connell said the program could see $4 million in cuts. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued $4,658,066 in grants for the program to Nashville in the 2024 fiscal year — similar to Nashville's total awards from the two previous fiscal years — and another $857,721 since the start of 2025. Austin Hornbostel is the Metro reporter for The Tennessean. Have a question about local government you want an answer to? Reach him at ahornbostel@ This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville programs for newborns, HIV at risk of federal cuts
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Ryan White Was Barred From School for His AIDS Diagnosis. His Story Changed History.
My new book examines the life, death, and legacies of Ryan White, the Indiana teenager with hemophilia who contracted HIV through contaminated blood products in the early to mid-1980s. White became perhaps the most famous person with AIDS in the United States, if not the world, after he was barred from attending his middle school because of his condition. Ryan White's curious celebrity and perceived innocence helped shift dominant conceptions of HIV/AIDS as a 'gay plague' or an illness for 'junkies.' Yet his story also reinforced existing prejudices against men who have sex with men and people who use intravenous drugs. The selected excerpt details Ryan's highly publicized struggle to return to school in Indiana. The excerpt from The Life and Death of Ryan White spotlights themes that will resonate with many young readers, including the sting of rejection, the appeal of 'normality,' and the search for community. Stay up-to-date with the politics team. Sign up for the Teen Vogue Take On the surface, Ryan White seemed like just another seventh grader at Western Middle School (WMS). He was new to WMS in the fall of 1984, having moved to Kokomo earlier that year from Windfall, Indiana, about eighteen miles away. While living in Windfall, Ryan attended Tri-Central Junior High in nearby Sharpsville, where he earned mostly As and Bs (and a couple of Cs). He received similar grades (plus one D) in his first semester at Western Middle School. As WMS principal Ron Colby put it, 'Ryan was functioning at an average to above average level the 1st and 2nd 6 weeks [sic] grading period at Western Middle School the fall semester of 1984–85,' just before his hospitalization and subsequent AIDS diagnosis in December 1984. The boy also exhibited no 'abnormal emotional behavior' and 'appeared to socialize with his peers in a normal fashion for a 7th grader new to the school system.' Though Ryan had severe hemophilia, Jeanne White had advised Colby and school nurse Bev Ashcraft on her son's condition. Despite the potential dangers that a child with hemophilia might face in a middle school setting—namely horseplay and other activities that could cause internal bleeding—Colby, Ashcraft, and other WMS officials seemed confident in their ability to care for Ryan. According to Colby, there had been some 'concern when school first started in '84,' but Ryan's severe hemophilia ultimately presented 'no major problem[s] until Nov[ember]—when we could not stop [a] nosebleed.' Ryan ultimately survived that incident, just as he survived so many other health scares. In early 1985, teachers, administrators, and others in the Kokomo area learned that Ryan had acquired HIV through contaminated blood products and that he was now living with AIDS. By that point, the medical community had more or less confirmed that HIV spread mainly through particular sexual activities, needle-sharing, blood products, and blood transfusions—and not through casual contact. Nevertheless, many area parents and school administrators sought clarity on the specific issue of students with AIDS in schools. In the run-up to the 1985–86 academic year, local teachers and administrators awaited guidance from local, state, or federal health officials on the matter. The Indiana State Board of Health (ISBH) supplied such guidance only in late July 1985, less than a month before the new school year was to begin and just days before students were to formally enroll at WMS. Released on July 30, 1985, the ISBH report—spurred by Ryan's case and based on similar guidelines developed in Connecticut and Florida—strongly affirmed the right of children with AIDS to attend school. 'No evidence exists to support transmission of the disease by casual contact or by the airborne route,' the ISBH guidelines read. 'All evidence regarding the transmission of AIDS indicates that the type of contact between persons which normally occurs in a school setting should not result in the transmission of the AIDS virus.' That same day, possibly before he had the state guidelines in hand, Western School Corporation superintendent J. O. Smith announced that Ryan would be barred from attending WMS in person. Smith and his supporters justified the decision in several interlocking ways. First and foremost, they pointed to lingering questions about HIV's potential modes of transmission. Next, they argued that Ryan's physical attendance could threaten the health and well-being of everyone in the school (including Ryan himself) and in the surrounding community. Finally, they contended that the onerous safeguards recommended by the ISBH would be difficult to implement and also spoke to the potential communicability of HIV. Smith cited 'unknowns and uncertainties [about AIDS]' as a reason to keep Ryan out of school, and he insisted that the ISBH guidelines raised more questions than they answered. 'There's the misconception that there's only one way to catch AIDS[:] through sexual intercourse,' Smith told the Kokomo Tribune shortly after the ISBH released its recommendations. 'But the guidelines we've received indicate that the exchange of certain other body fluids could present a danger to other students.' As Smith put it on the CBS Evening News on July 31, 'What we know about it, combined with what we don't know, just makes it too big a problem and too many question marks.' Western School Board president Dan Carter sounded similar notes in an interview with the Tribune. 'As long as we have any question that might affect the health of any student, we have to take a safe route' by keeping Ryan out of school. WSC officials certainly had plenty of questions. A week after the release of the state guidelines, WSC representatives submitted an extensive list of queries to the ISBH. Their exacting questions sowed confusion about the communicability of HIV/AIDS and thus cast doubt on the validity of the ISBH's claims. 'Is AIDS a communicable disease?' the authors of the WSC memo asked. 'Is AIDS transmittable by saliva? coughing? sneezing? perspiration?' While the ISBH guidelines had specified that HIV could not be transmitted through 'casual contact,' WSC officials wondered, 'What constitutes 'casual contact'?' and 'Is there a difference between 'casual contact' at home and at school?' That the ISBH identified certain precautions to be taken in the event of a 'spill' involving the bodily fluids of a child with AIDS raised red flags. Some observers interpreted this as proof of HIV's extreme transmissibility. Smith also suggested that these recommended safeguards—namely the use of 'gloves, bleach, and leakproof bags'—were burdensome, presumably because the school corporation was rural, fairly small, and in financial straits. In Smith's words, Ryan's physical presence at WMS would be 'a situation we are not prepared to cope with.' The decision to deny entry to Ryan might have remained a relatively minor local controversy had it not come down just as the world learned of actor Rock Hudson's bout with AIDS. Though Hudson had been diagnosed in 1984, news of his illness broke only in late July 1985. Hudson thus became, as the Indianapolis Star put it, 'the first person with international recognition to announce he has the disease.' Hudson's fame made his illness noteworthy and shocking, but so too did his status as a heterosexual icon. Hudson had long personified normative masculinity and heterosexuality on the big screen, especially during Hollywood's 'golden age'—starring alongside Elizabeth Taylor in the epic Giant (1956) and Doris Day in several popular romantic comedies, including Pillow Talk (1959). Accordingly, news of Hudson's diagnosis heightened public interest in the AIDS epidemic and stoked fears about the disease's movement beyond the established 'risk groups' (the so-called four Hs: homosexuals, hemophiliacs, heroin users, and Haitians). Just days after J. O. Smith's decision, the Indianapolis Star ran a front-page article (next to a story about Ryan White) spotlighting the public's growing concerns about AIDS. 'Now a Household Word,' the headline read, 'It's Invading 'Straight' World.' Smith's decision brought national and international attention to Kokomo, Russiaville, and the small communities surrounding them. And because AIDS was 'now a household word,' Ryan White soon became a household name, a widely celebrated figure with a small army backing his bid to return to school. 'It all broke loose,' Dan Carter explained in a 2011 oral history interview. 'Then the whole country starts swooping down on us [saying], 'How dare you?'' Given how quiet this part of north-central Indiana was (and remains), it is easy to understand why locals might have been overwhelmed by the national and international news media coverage. Just two days after Smith's decision, the front page of the Kokomo Tribune included a short article called 'Case in the Spotlight,' which began, 'The case of Ryan White has gained attention nationwide through the news media.' The story—surrounded by three others related to the Ryan White saga—revealed just how unprecedented these developments were for people in the Kokomo area. With this publicity came scrutiny and criticism, as Carter suggested, and also tremendous sympathy for Ryan. At a moment in which AIDS seemed to be on everyone's mind, Ryan emerged as a nearly unassailable figure without the presumed baggage of other people with AIDS. In the wake of Smith's decision, Ryan received encouraging letters and other forms of support from people around the world. By contrast, many of the letters sent to Smith and WMS principal Ron Colby in 1985 and beyond expressed admiration for White and disdain for school administrators and the residents of the Kokomo area, more generally. Ryan White's supporters often emphasized 'innocence' and the concept of 'normality' in their appeals, with some clearly motivated by pity for the young person with hemophilia—and now AIDS. By September 1985, the inclusion of HIV-positive students and students with AIDS in the classroom had become a contentious national issue. Ryan White's youth, innocence, and compelling pursuit of normality indirectly forced President Ronald Reagan to address the AIDS crisis for the first time. Shortly after White and his family began waging their battle against the Western School Corporation, reporters at a September 17 press conference urged Reagan to discuss the controversy over students with AIDS. He did, although he refused to affirm the right of children with HIV/AIDS to attend school. When asked to imagine that he had younger children and to indicate whether he would 'send them to a school with a child who had AIDS,' Reagan equivocated. 'I can well understand the plight of the parents,' the president asserted. 'I also have compassion,' he continued, 'for the child that has this [AIDS] and doesn't know . . . why somehow he is now an outcast and can no longer associate with his playmates and schoolmates.' Reagan's comments disappointed health officials like Paul Volberding, an oncologist and the director of the AIDS clinic at San Francisco General Hospital. 'I don't think the President's remarks reflect what most experts in the field feel about that issue,' Volberding observed. 'Most of us feel that kids with AIDS should be allowed to participate in normal activities.' With little federal leadership on AIDS, debates about children with HIV/AIDS in schools would continue to rage in the courtroom, the press, and the interpersonal sphere, from Connecticut to the Bronx to Florida, where locals tormented and eventually banished the Ray brothers, who also had hemophilia. But the Ryan White case would loom the largest. From The Life and Death of Ryan White: AIDS and Inequality in America by Paul M. Renfro. Copyright © 2024 by Paul M. Renfro. Published by the University of North Carolina Press. Used by permission of the publisher. The audiobook version is now available for preorder. Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue Want to read more Teen Vogue LGBTQ coverage? 12 Things People Get Wrong About Being Nonbinary How to Have Sex if You're Queer 'What Does LGBTQ Stand For?' Your (Colorful) LGBTQIA+ Glossary 7 Trans People Share What Brings Them Joy
Chicago Tribune
08-04-2025
- General
- Chicago Tribune
Today in History: Ryan White, teen whose battle with AIDS drew national attention, dies at 18
Today is Tuesday, April 8, the 98th day of 2025. There are 267 days left in the year. Today in history: On April 8, 1990, Ryan White, the teenager whose battle with AIDS drew national attention and led to greater understanding and de-stigmatization of those suffering from the disease, died in Indianapolis at age 18. Also on this date: In 1820, the Venus de Milo statue, likely dating to the 2nd century B.C.E., was discovered by a farmer on the Greek island of Milos. In 1864, the U.S. Senate passed, 38-6, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolishing slavery. (The House of Representatives passed it in January 1865; the amendment was ratified and adopted in December 1865.) In 1911, an explosion at the Banner Coal Mine in Littleton, Alabama, claimed the lives of 128 men, most of them convicts leased out from prisons. In 1913, the 17th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, providing for election of U.S. senators by state residents as opposed to state legislatures. In 1962, Cuba announced that 1,200 Cuban exiles tried for their roles in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion were convicted of treason and sentenced to 30 years in prison. In 1974, Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hit his 715th career home run in a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, breaking Babe Ruth's home run record that had stood since 1935. In 1992, tennis great Arthur Ashe announced at a New York news conference that he had AIDS, having contracted HIV from a blood transfusion in 1983. In 2010, President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty in Prague. In 2020, a 76-day lockdown was lifted in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the global COVID-19 pandemic began. Today's Birthdays: Journalist Seymour Hersh is 88. Songwriter-producer Leon Huff is 83. Rock musician Steve Howe (Yes) is 78. Sports broadcaster Jim Lampley is 76. Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, is 70. Author Barbara Kingsolver is 70. Actor John Schneider is 65. Guitarist Izzy Stradlin (Guns N' Roses) is 63. Singer Julian Lennon is 62. Actor Dean Norris is 62. Actor Robin Wright is 59. Actor Patricia Arquette is 57. Actor Taylor Kitsch is 44. Boxer Gennady Golovkin is 43. NFL wide receiver CeeDee Lamb is 26. Actor Skai Jackson is 23.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Longtime advocate warns of Ohio deaths if federal HIV funding is cut
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — An Ohio HIV advocate said possible Trump administration plans to dial back HIV funding, including changes to a grant providing medication to low-income people with the virus, could cause thousands of deaths. Gil Kudrin, a long-term HIV survivor, is speaking out following growing concern the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program, which delegates treatment grants for low-income patients, could be the next target of budget cuts. The program provides medication to more than 50% of those living with HIV in the U.S., about half a million people, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration. 'There are thousands of people in this county, in this city who rely on Ryan White for their very survival,' Kudrin said at the inaugural 'State of the LGBTQ+ Community' meeting in Cleveland in late February. 'If there is a 90-day interruption for that medication funding, it is likely in the following year there will be 109,000 deaths attributed to that interruption of treatment.' Ohio group asks U.S. Supreme Court to allow student opt-outs for LGBTQ+ lessons Kudrin's warning came after some Cleveland-area physicians told him they received memorandums detailing the end of the program's funding. Since then, the Trump administration has terminated other grants related to the HIV drug PrEP and begun weighing a dueling plan to eliminate the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's division focused on HIV prevention, according to NBC News. Under this plan, the CDC's HIV prevention work could transition to be under the Ryan White program, should it remain. However, LGBTQ+ advocates warn the move could easily overburden the program given it's designed to assist those living with HIV, not to promote prevention. 'The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program does not fill all the HIV gaps,' Harold Phillips, deputy director for programs at the National HIV/AIDS Advocacy Network, told NBC News. 'It only serves those with an HIV diagnosis.' Another potential plan would cut as much as $700 million for the CDC's HIV division, NBC News also found. Each option is in the preliminary stages, and no final decisions have been made yet. The uncertainty surrounding the administration's HIV funding plan is why Kudrin is calling on Ohio's LGBTQ+ community to revive 'Act Up,' a protest movement that called for government action during the AIDS epidemic in the late '80s and early '90s. Kudrin, who has lived with HIV for around 40 years, said he has lost more than 100 friends to HIV and AIDS. Olentangy schools defends LGBTQ+ anti-bullying policies in federal court 'I need you now to fight as desperately for my life as I fought for other people's lives because, if they take my meds away, I have 45 days left of Biktarvy,' said Kudrin, referring to a common HIV drug that can cost more than $4,000 for a month-long supply. 'When you take my meds away, I will die. I will die within a year, at most, two. And I have a lot to live for.' Kurdin's plea is especially poignant in a state like Ohio, which is home to six laws that have yielded at least 214 HIV-related criminal prosecutions from 2014 to 2020. While Statehouse proposals to repeal or alter those laws have been unsuccessful, Kurdin encouraged community members to continue advocating for the 27,000 Ohioans living with HIV. 'This is not a joke, this is a call to action,' Kudrin said. 'If you do not act up now, you will never have another chance.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
