The Trump administration issued a waiver on Tuesday for lifesaving medicines and medical services, temporarily reinstating a global H.I.V. treatment program that had been halted the previous week.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the waiver, which appeared to permit the distribution of H.I.V. medications. However, it remained unclear whether the exemption also covered preventive drugs and other services provided by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
Despite this development, PEPFAR’s future remains uncertain, putting more than 20 million people—including 500,000 children—at risk of losing access to essential treatment. Without continued care, millions of individuals with H.I.V. in low-income countries could face the progression to full-blown AIDS and premature death.
“We could quickly find ourselves back in a situation where the epidemic is spiraling out of control, much like it was in the 1980s,” warned Dr. Steve Deeks, an H.I.V. expert at the University of California, San Francisco.