Officials said it's still business as usual over at Trillium Health Centers as HIV prevention and research funding remains under threat nationally.
Several news reports have said that the Trump administration is considering getting rid of the HIV prevention division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And the federal government has already terminated grants for some HIV research.
“Based on what we've seen for the past couple months, we need to be planning for some funding changes and adjusting programs accordingly,” said Dr. Bill Valenti, Trillium’s co-founder.
Valenti and his team have spent decades dedicated to HIV/ AIDS prevention and treatment. He said he fears things will begin heading in the wrong direction both for public health and the economy if funds are reduced.
“More new infections, more people in hospital emergency rooms and more people sick because they can't access treatment,” Valenti said. “Those people can't go to work and take care of their families, can't buy groceries because they're sick.”
It costs the government more to take care of a sick person than it does to keep someone healthy, Valenti argued. He said “healthy people, in the end, are preferable to sick people” regarding economic impact. It’s a point that he called on the Trump administration to consider.
“It's always been better in terms of outcome,” he said. “Everybody wins. It's a win, win.”
Valenti said that in Monroe County the number of new infections has decreased over the past five years.
