Six members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) resigned this week in protest of Donald Trump‘s apathy towards the epidemic and his attempts to take health care access away from people living with HIV/AIDS. In a statement through Newsweek magazine, Scott Schoettes, a lawyer from Lambda Legal, said: “We have dedicated our lives to combating this disease and no longer feel we can do so effectively within the confines of an advisory body to a president who simply does not care.”

He continued: “The Trump Administration has no strategy to address the on-going HIV/AIDS epidemic, seeks zero input from experts to formulate HIV policy, and—most concerning—pushes legislation that will harm people living with HIV and halt or reverse important gains made in the fight against this disease.”

“More important, President Trump has not appointed anyone to lead the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, a post that held a seat on the Domestic Policy Council under President Obama”, Schoettes continued. With the resignation, 19 members remain in the Council, who include public health officials, researchers, health care providers, faith leaders, HIV advocates, and people living with HIV. PACHA also monitors and provides recommendations to effectively implement the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, which was created by the White House Office of National AIDS Policy in 2010 and revised in 2015. Schoettes, counsel and HIV project director at Lambda Legal, warned that the sweeping changes proposed to the Obama-era health care scheme would be 'extremely harmful' to people living with HIV or AIDS. Schoettes, counsel and HIV project director at Lambda Legal, resigned Tuesday from the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, along with Lucy Bradley-Springer, Gina Brown, Ulysses Burley III, Michelle Ogle and Grissel Granados.
Six members of President Trump's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS resign stating the administration doesn't have a strategy to address the epidemic, doesn't seek input from experts on HIV policy, supports legislation that would halt or reverse important gains made in the fight against this disease and would harm people living with HIV.