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The finances behind preventing HIV and AIDS

The prices for HIV-prevention medication PrEP can range from 50 cents a day to north of $18,000 annually.
Emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate is a daily pill that can prevent HIV infections.
Dylan Miettinen/Marketplace

U.S. officials want to end the HIV epidemic by 2030. Many stakeholders think they won’t.

Apr 20, 2023
The federal government’s ambitious plan to end the HIV epidemic, launched in 2019, has generated new ways to reach at-risk populations in targeted communities across the South. But health officials, advocates, and people living with HIV worry significant headwinds will keep the program from reaching its goals.
The White House displays a red ribbon for World AIDS Day on Dec. 01, 2021. In 2019, then-President Donald Trump launched a federal initiative to end HIV.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Why Tennessee is turning down millions of federal dollars for HIV prevention

Feb 3, 2023
State officials said they will instead use state funds they can control, including cutting out organizations tied to abortion care.
State officials spurned around $8 million in federal funding, saying they will instead use state funds that can be directly controlled — and denied to organizations like Planned Parenthood.
Seth Herald/AFP via Getty Images

In time for National HIV Testing Day, progress made on prevention

Jun 28, 2019
A new recommendation makes PrEP, a drug that helps prevent the spread of HIV, free for many more Americans
Jeffery Beall / Wikimedia

The cost of preventing the spread of HIV? Upwards of $1,600 a month

Feb 5, 2019
President Trump is expected to call for an end to HIV transmission by 2030. The drug known as PrEP may be key.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) and AIDS patients march to protest budget cuts to AIDS services proposed by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on June 5, 2009 in Hollywood, California. 
David McNew/Getty Images

The first HIV/AIDS drug was fast-tracked 30 years ago. Some lament that process.

Mar 20, 2017
It was 30 years ago this week that the Food and Drug Administration approved the first  treatment for HIV/AIDS, the drug AZT. At a time when the number of AIDS-related deaths was skyrocketing, AZT was rushed into the approval process. But some of the early advocates of the drug’s fast-tracking ended up lamenting that process. […]

Complaint alleges discrimination against HIV/AIDS patients

Sep 6, 2016
Large insurers discourage high-cost patients, lawsuit says.
A lawsuit filed by the Center for Health Law & Policy Innovation alleges that some insurers are refusing to cover high-priced medications for HIV/AIDS patients.
STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

More drama in prescription drug pricing

Dec 1, 2015
A firm hiked the price of a drug 50-fold, and now there's new generic competition.

Striving to get to 'HIV zero'

Jan 22, 2015
Washington, D.C., and other cities are making inroads against spread of HIV/AIDS.