Amid Row Over Exclusion, US Concedes that HIV Approach Needs to Include ‘All People at Risk’
Amid Row Over Exclusion, US Concedes that HIV Approach Needs to Include ‘All People at Risk’
RIO DE JANEIRO – The United States has conceded that the HIV epidemic cannot be stopped “unless we have services for all people at risk” at a major event on the eve of the International AIDS Conference.
Dr Rebecca Bunnell, deputy head of implementing the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), made the remark at a US government event to explain the new “America First Global Health Strategy”.
“We can’t forget any group because if we do, we will fail,” added Deputy Assistant Secretary Bunnell, a deputy assistant secretary who is second in command to the US global AIDS coordinator.
She was responding to a question about how to include “key populations” – groups most at risk of HIV, including sex workers, men who have sex with men and people who inject drugs – who have been excluded from the new US approach to HIV, which prioritises preventing HIV in mothers and babies. (Health Policy Watch, Schweiz, 26.07.2026)
https://healthpolicy-watch.news/us-concedes-that-hiv-approach-needs-to-include-all-people-at-risk