-Black men who sleep with other men, at current rates,
one in every two will be diagnosed with HIV
sometime in their lifetime.
-That's the reality of HIV in America today.
A staggering number of Black and Latino men
who have sex with other men
are at risk of contracting the disease.
The good news is that stopping the transmission of HIV
in the United States is an achievable goal,
and it's one the Trump administration
has pledged to accomplish with a new initiative.
I sat down with Lenny Bernstein,
a Health and Medicine reporter for The Washington Post
who's been following this story.
-There's roughly 39,000 new HIV diagnoses in America each year,
and that has been almost completely stable
for the past four or five years,
which means we've sort of plateaued in our progress
against the disease.
-What is the best way to prevent new infection?
-We have this marvelous drug, PrEP --
stands for pre-exposure prophylaxis.
It's a single pill.
You take it every day, and as long as you stay on it,
you can cut your risk of becoming infected through sex
by well over 90%,
and you can cut your risk of becoming infected
through intravenous drug use by well over 70%.
-The problem is access.
Many of the HIV hotspots in the U.
S. are in the rural South,
where there's little access to healthcare,
and PrEP is expensive, around $1,600 a month,
and it's not universally covered by insurance.
The company that makes the drug does offer a program for poor,
at-risk people to get it, but there are other issues.
-In many places in the United States,
people are not on PrEP.
A lot of doctors have not even heard of PrEP.
A lot of places don't stock PrEP.
-There may also be some stigma, including racial bias,
around admitting you have gay sex.
-If you combine that with living in a small town, in a rural area
where, let's say,
it's quite easy for people to know your business,
and you go into either get or fill a prescription for PrEP
and you don't want people to know that you're on it,
you may very well be dealing with somebody you know.
-And then there's just the reality
of being poor or homeless.
-I mean, imagine if your life is so disorganized and chaotic
and turbulent that, you know, you're not quite sure
where you're gonna sleep tonight --
are you gonna be able to take a pill every day
and, you know, stay on that?
"Oh, yeah, it's time for me to take..."
It's not gonna happen.
-Today, your risk of getting HIV is determined
in part by geography.
In 2017, 52% of new diagnoses were made in the South.
So the Trump administration plans
to target its new initiative towards seven Southern states.
It will also focus on 48 counties across the U.
S. that are HIV hotspots,
plus Puerto Rico and Washington, D.
C.
, which has the highest rate of transmission in the country.
Here's the government's plan for ending the disease.
First, diagnose people with HIV as early as possible.
Second, get people who are
infected on antiretroviral therapy.
With effective medication, you can drop your viral load
to the point where you could have unprotected sex
and not transmit the disease.
Third, get people who are
at risk of contracting the virus on PrEP.
And fourth, monitor where in the country
HIV is spreading most rapidly.
Educate people about the medications
and make sure those who most need care have access to it.
-They just started.
They just put $290 million into the upcoming budget.
That's a drop in the bucket.
It's the first step.
-What do you think the barriers are to this plan working?
-Well, it's gonna cost a lot of money.
That's the big thing.
It will cost billions and billions.
Also, the same administration that wants to wipe out
HIV is cutting back on Medicaid
and other government programs that provide healthcare.
So you can't give with one hand and take away with the other.
Let's say you're on Medicaid, and I wipe out your ability
to find a doctor in your little town in the middle of nowhere.
Well, then how are ever gonna hear about PrEP?
-The Trump administration has pledged to reduce transmission
by 75% in the next five years and 90% by 2030.
It's an ambitious goal,
but with enough money and healthcare programs,
it is possible.