In March 1982, at 21 years old, Gregg Gore was told he had one year to live. He had just been diagnosed with HIV.
During this time, there was no effective medicine to treat HIV, and prolonged, untreated exposure to the immunodeficiency virus developed into AIDS, almost certainly resulting in death. From 1981 to 1990, 100,777 people in the United States were victims of HIV-related deaths, as the first effective antiretroviral agent, zidovudine, wasn’t approved until 1987.
Gore had little hope when his mother called to tell him the news of his diagnosis.
“[At first] I figured it was a death in the family. Instead, within a minute, I realized it was me who was going to die,” Gore told The Informer.
The 65-year-old survivor and passionate advocate sat by his window, soaking up the sun, recounting the events four decades later.
“I don’t remember the conversations for the next three days, but I do remember [my mom] offering me one of the grave sites in the family’s area,” Gore recalled. “I was stunned, to say the least.”
Over the next few years, contrary to the doctor’s prediction, Gore lived. Others weren’t as fortunate, as many of his friends and community members passed away due to the virus and a lack of successful medicinal treatment. It was a period of time that he and his friends refer to as “the tidal wave.”
Between 1994, the peak of HIV infections, and 2025, new cases have decreased by 65%, made possible by a global dedication to collaboration and research. The international effort was amplified in 2003 with the launch of the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which has been credited with saving 26 million lives. This plan gave people the hope and resources necessary to continue living their lives.
Unfortunately, that lifeline and future care were put in jeopardy with the Trump administration’s suspension of the program amid the dissolution of USAID. PEPFAR relied on the government agency for 60% of its bilateral assistance in FY 2023, and without it, 71% of HIV-related awards were canceled, and 1,700 HIV service sites across 46 countries were completely shut down. The threat that this circumstance has posed to global health has not gone unnoticed nor uncondemned.
“The Trump administration’s gutting of PEPFAR is the latest in a long string of attacks on programs that are designed to save lives,” said Ranking Member of the Committee of Oversight and Reform Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Ca.) in a recent letter to Marco Rubio. “The dismantlement of a program that has saved tens of millions of lives is both horrific and inhumane, and part of a larger pattern of the Trump Administration’s cruelty toward people living with HIV.”
Global HIV Efforts Persist
Despite USAID’s discontinuation, PEPFAR remains a part of U.S. law as long as Congress allocates funding. In March 2024, all global assistance funding, including PEPFAR, was put on a 90-day freeze, but by August 2025, the program’s appropriated funds had not been disbursed.
In 2025, PEPFAR’s funding was cut by 30%, and in 2026, the U.S. Department of State distributed $2.5 billion less to the program than it did in 2024. After USAID was dissolved, it was promised that PEPFAR programs could continue through a collection of humanitarian waivers for critical care. This did not occur, and funding for more than half of the program’s funding was discontinued.
As a result, the number of people treated with PEPFAR support declined by 10%. Younger generations are also suffering at the hands of the current administration’s rollbacks, as 77,000 fewer children are receiving HIV treatment.
“Sadly, we now know that the destruction of USAID and withholding critical assistance funds from programs like [PEPFAR] have killed hundreds of thousands of people worldwide,” Garcia wrote. “The State Department’s attacks on PEPFAR are part of the larger pattern of the Trump Administration’s cruelty and disregard for those living with HIV.”
In June, the State Department announced its plan to cut all funding to South Africa, which has one of the highest prevalence of HIV cases in the world, with 7.8 million adults reported to be living with the virus in 2024. Withholding funding and aid from countries that would most benefit from treatment and research, especially as the new twice-yearly prevention drug lenacapvir is in development worldwide, hinders progress by stripping vulnerable communities of their resources and risking further spread of the infection.
Gore doesn’t understand why such a program benefiting global public health would be put at such risk. In 2025, 1.2 million people globally tested positive for HIV and 57,000 died from AIDS-related causes. Currently, 8.8 million people living with HIV lack access to treatment.
“The bottom line [is] people are dying, especially in Africa,” the HIV survivor told The Informer. “People don’t know where to go; Health department budgets have been cut. It’s really a travesty.”
Although interruptions to PEPFAR’s reach have been detrimental to people with HIV around the globe, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) adopted the Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS on June 23. The proclamation reiterates and strengthens the international commitment to ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
The declaration aims to establish a sustainable and multisectoral HIV response plan with domestic and international funding from bilateral and multilateral donors. UNIADS hopes that by 2030, it can achieve its target of mobilizing $21.9 billion annually for HIV investments in low- to middle-income countries. A majority of the agency’s Member States agreed to adopt the declaration.
“That so many Member States voted to support this political declaration in the moment is recognition that our progress remains worth protecting and that there is willingness to sustain the actions we need to achieve the 2030 goal,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima.
Shortly after this reaffirmation of the global fight against HIV and AIDS, the U.N. agency reported that an oral monthly HIV prevention pill, alimatravir, is currently undergoing promising phase three trials. Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) produces the pill and has announced voluntary licensing agreements with generic pharmaceutical manufacturers, including three in Africa.
If this pill is successful, it could strengthen the global community’s arsenal of HIV prevention and care.
“Scientific innovation has the power to change the trajectory of the AIDS pandemic, but only if it reaches everyone who needs it,” said UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Angeli Achrekar. “No one should have to wait years for life-saving HIV prevention.”
In Washington, Gore advances access to HIV resources by being a support system for people affected by HIV in the community. He constantly speaks out to abolish the stigma around the virus and currently mentors six people whom he speaks with once a month, guiding them on how to handle their diagnosis and treatment.
Gore encourages his mentees to follow their doctors’ advice, keep up with their medicine, and to be prepared to be rejected, but not give up on finding love if they haven’t yet. He believes that HIV awareness and guaranteed access to treatment and education are necessary in fighting the virus.
“PrEP is a good thing. If we could get more of it out there … the numbers would drop,” Gore told The Informer. “Information lets you live.”
