President Trump’s most recent move in the government’s effort to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic once again brings the administration’s commitment to eradicating the disease into question, activists say.
Months after a half-dozen members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS resigned in protest of the administration’s position on health policies, the White House fired the remaining members through a form letter this week, The Post’s Ben Guarino reported.
The council, whose members are not paid, has advised the White House on HIV/AIDS policies for more than two decades, specifically offering recommendations on the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, a five-year plan responding to the epidemic.
The group includes “doctors, members of industry, members of the community and, very importantly, people living with HIV,” Scott Schoettes, a lawyer with the LGBT rights organization Lambda Legal, told The Post. “Without it, you lose the community voice in policymaking.” Schoettes was one of the council members who resigned in June.
