Researchers said the White House's proposed funding cuts to global AIDS treatment programs, if approved, could lead to at least one million deaths, reports The New York Times.
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Here are six things to know.
1. The United States helps fund AIDS treatment and research internationally through various initiatives. One of these initiatives is the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Additionally, the Global Fund partnership provides nearly $4 billion annually to combat AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
2. In total, the United States pays $6 billion each year for programs that purchase antiretroviral drugs for more than 11 million people worldwide with HIV, which causes AIDS, according to the report.
3. However, President Donald Trump's administration has proposed at least $1.1 billion in cuts to global AIDS treatment programs, Jen Kates, a vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation, told NYT.
4. Regardless of whether funding cuts were approved, people who currently receive drug treatments through the programs would maintain them, Hari Sastry, director of the State Department's Office of U.S. Foreign Assistance Resources, told reporters, reports NYT. No further details were provided as far as how these patients would stay on treatment if the funding cuts gain approval, the report states.
5. Mr. Sastry also told reporters this week the White House planned to make sure America was "focusing our efforts in the 12 high-burden countries to achieve epidemic control," reports NYT. Pepfar currently provides financial support to combat AIDS in more than 60 countries, many of which are in Africa.
6. Based on an amfAR calculation cited by the NYT, the proposed cuts to global AIDS programs could result in more than one million lives lost and more than 300,000 children becoming orphans.
Read the full report here.