Tens of thousands of deaths and new HIV infections will be the direct result of Donald Trumps abandonment of PEPFAR and other programs dedicated to the global fight against AIDS, health professionals closely associated with the effort say.The presidents desertion of PEPFAR, the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, in particular, will have long-lasting and possibly catastrophic implications for finally eradicating the disease. Related Trumps PEPFAR cuts are crippling LGBTQ+ rights & worsening the HIV crisis in Africa African doctors say their patients are arriving with tears in their eyes, asking if theyll die from a lack of HIV medication. The irony of the cuts at exactly this time is stinging, those same health professionals say: The fight against HIV/AIDS was poised for big wins that could finally bring the disease to its knees. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today We imagined we would be in a different world right now, said Dr. Leila Mansoor, a senior research scientist at the Centre for the AIDS Program of Research in Durban, South Africa. And instead were moving backwards at warp speed.Two recent developments have been giving researchers and health experts hope in the global fight against HIV/AIDS: new vaccine trials and the twice-yearly PrEP injection called lenacapavir.Both could radically transform the epidemic and possibly end it within years.Mansoor had planned to spend 2025 analyzing data from one HIV prevention trial, preparing for another, and tracking how lenacapavir was transforming the epidemic alongside colleagues testing new vaccines and cure strategies, she told The New York Times.Instead, shes worrying about HIV infection rates rising in the hardest-hit countries and stocks of PrEP drugs once supplied through PEPFAR that are running out across Africa. Theres not even a clear way to measure the damage being done because data collection was reliant on funding that Trump has now terminated.In South Africa, clinical trials of vaccines that had participants ready for their first shot have been canceled, scientists say. Staff administering the trials have been laid off, and immunizations have been left to expire in lab refrigerators.The U.S. has contributed about three-quarters of the global spending on H.I.V., or around $6 billion annually in recent years, as part of George W. Bushs PEPFAR commitment. The Trump administration has slashed all but pregnant and breastfeeding women from receiving PEPFAR money, meaning just a sliver of historic funding will go to the program now.The same massive cuts hit the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, another major U.S.-based source of funding directed at HIV/AIDS prevention.Secretary of State Marco Rubio has maintained that the United States will preserve its support for treatment programs, but that no longer includes support for HIV-positive men, LGBTQ+ people, condom distribution, or PrEP for anyone but child-bearing women.Now the race is on to replace U.S. funding to get lenacapavir into the arms of at-risk Africans and restart vaccine trials.Pharmaceutical giant Gilead Sciences, which created lenacapavir, has committed to supplying two million doses of the drug to be sold at a no-profit price.The company also issueda voluntary license to makers of generics, including companies in India and Egypt, so that an affordable product would be available in a few years.The Gates Foundation is also stepping up, but is reluctant to work directly with Big Pharma. Weve been working on how quickly we can get the generic version activated, said Trevor Mundel, president of global health at the Gates Foundation.The foundation will guarantee large-volume purchases to encourage the generics makers to ramp up production, he said, in the hope that the low-cost version of lenacapavir is available by early 2027.The Childrens Investment Fund Foundation, a British charity, has pledged $150 million to the Global Fund to support the rollout of lenacapavir, and theres still hope that Washington might see the wisdom of maintaining funding for the global fight against HIV/AIDS just as it could be won.If you want countries to take on the responsibility for their H.I.V. responses, said Peter Sands, executive director of the Global Fund, who has been lobbying politicians in Washington, lenacapavir gives us that opportunity.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.