TAGHIVscience

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Treatment Action Group's Basic Science, Vaccines & Cure Project, by Richard Jefferys. 🏳️‍⚧️ Primary Treatment Action Group account: https://bsky.app/profile/treatmentactiongroup.org TAG website: https://www.treatmentactiongroup.org/

Getty Images photo by Brendan Smialowski showing activists from Housing Works, Health GAP, Treatment Action Group, and ACT UP protesting the murderous cuts to global HIV/AIDS funding at a US Senate hearing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio (who until very recently praised and supported PEPFAR). Photo shows four people chanting and holding up signs stating "Rubio kills people with AIDS" as a lone Capitol Police officer in the background appears to be calling for assistance.
A screenshot of a tweet by Senator Marco Rubio on June 20, 2019, stating: "Stop by the Senate Russell Rotunda this week to check out the amazing achievements of PEPFAR [The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief]. Thanks to the generosity of the American people, investments in PEPFAR have saved millions of lives, prevented infections, and transformed the global response to fight HIV/AIDS."
Exert from an article in Nature by Max Kozlov reporting on plans to restructure NIAID at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the text reads: The restructure is also expected to target the NIAID division focusing on HIV/AIDS research, which oversees a $1.5-billion portfolio of projects developing therapeutics and vaccines against the virus. The division’s 33 branches will likely be consolidated, one NIAID employee tells Nature. But it’s not clear whether the total number of projects or amount of money the division doles out will be impacted, the employee adds.
A quote from a January 16 comment in the scientific journal Nature titled "The new vision from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)" and authored by Jeffery K. Taubenberger, John H. Powers & Jay Bhattacharya. The quote states: "Over the past quarter of a century, NIAID’s overall strategic plan — which is being updated after almost a decade — had three main foci: (1) HIV research, including developing a vaccine or cure; (2) civilian biodefense and pandemic preparedness; and (3) all other priorities, including most infections and allergic, immunological and autoimmune conditions.”
Image from page 7 of the 2010 "Rethinking AIDS" IRS 990, showing $3,486 funding for a "Research Grant, Joe and Karri Stokely - Document Experimental Regime for 10 Year AIDS Patient".
An image of a slide presented by Dr. Xu Yu during a plenary presentation on HIV cure research at the International AIDS Society 2025 conference on HIV science in Kigali, Rwanda. Titled "Females Remain Underrepresented in HIV Cure-Related Studies," the first bullet point notes that while females account for 54% of people living with HIV globally, the proportion of female participants in HIV cure-related clinical studies tracked by Treatment Action Group since the start of 2018 is 19.2%
Image of the Drake meme, with the top panel showing rejection of radical transparency and the bottom panel signaling approval for self-serving opacity. Posted in reference to US HHS Secretary, conspiracy theorist, vaccine denialist, and AIDS denialist RFK Jr refusing to issue conflict of interest statements for the rogue's gallery of grifter crackpots he unilaterally appointed to the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).
A screenshot of a tweet by Senator Marco Rubio on June 20, 2019: stating: "Stop by the Senate Russell Rotunda this week to check out the amazing achievements of PEPFAR [The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief]. Thanks to the generosity of the American people, investments in PEPFAR have saved millions of lives, prevented infections, and transformed the global response to fight HIV/AIDS."
A photograph of a large crowd of people attending the Stand Up for Science protest against the Trump administration's attack on science outside City Hall in San Francisco.
An image of text from an article quoting an anonymous public health specialist on the termination of USAID contracts in South Africa. The text reads: “This is absolutely shattering, heartbreaking, and incomprehensible. The termination letters issued by the US state department in the last 24 hours mark the abrupt and devastating end to years — decades — of investment in lifesaving programmes that have transformed communities, saved countless lives, and built essential infrastructure for health, education, and development. “The intellectual capital, expertise, and dedication poured into these programmes have simply been erased by bureaucratic decisions made overnight. How do you quantify the loss of a child’s access to malaria treatment? A mother’s TB medication? A community’s clean water project? “The people — the patients, the frontline workers, the programme recipients who relied on these services for survival — are now left stranded, abandoned by a system that once promised progress and partnership. “Every contract cancelled is not just a number; it represents a life, a community, a future now in jeopardy. The sheer disregard for the impact on millions of vulnerable people is unfathomable, and the ripple effects of these decisions will be felt for generations to come.
Image of a segment from an interview with a USAID employee working abroad by Jonathan Martin for Politico, published February 9, 2025. The text reads: Question: Hold on. "Done" meaning, the idea of a review, of an examination of activities, is B.S.? Answer: This charade that we were going to have a pause, and then there were exemptions for live-saving work, and there was the review where each dollar by dollar, look at the effects of this programming - which, by the way, USAID people welcome that kind of evidence-based programming. We would welcome that. You didn't need to cut off the paths to the communities we support around the world, to endanger our staff, to endanger our partners. People really, really wanted to show their commitment to being bipartisan and following the directive of this administration. It was only in the last two, three days, where everyone has realized - this whole thing is a sham.
An image of a warning message from the National Library of Medicine on the webpage for PubMed, the database of published scientific literature. The message reads: "Some NLM-NCBI services and products are experiencing heavy traffic, which may affect performance and availability. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience. For assistance, please contact our Help Desk at info@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov"
A photo of protesters marching against the homophobic Clause 28 legislation in the UK, 1988.
A screenshot of Terms of Service text from the US Social Security Administration (SSA) website, which states: "By checking I agree to the Terms of Service, I acknowledge the following conditions: I understand that I am accessing a U.S. Government system. I understand that my usage of this system may be monitored, recorded, and subject to audit. I understand that unauthorized or improper use of this system is prohibited and may result in administrative, civil, or criminal penalties and/or other actions."
Screenshot of the Google link to the webpage for the American Society for Microbiology Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists (ABRCMS) with the tagline: "For 20 years, ABRCMS has been the go-to conference for historically excluded communities in STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics]." The webpage has now been removed by ASM and contains the message "Under Review."
Image of an excerpt from the extreme right wing Project 2025 plan that the current US presidential administration is currently implementing, which states: "The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has shown that localization at scale is possible within a short time span. Over the four years of the Trump administration, the multibillion-dollar program increased the amount of funding disbursed to local entities from about 25 percent to nearly 70 percent with positive overall results. This model should be replicated across all of USAID."
Image of an excerpt from the extreme right wing Project 2025 plan that the current US presidential administration is currently implementing, which states: "The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has shown that localization at scale is possible within a short time span. Over the four years of the Trump administration, the multibillion-dollar program increased the amount of funding disbursed to local entities from about 25 percent to nearly 70 percent with positive overall results. This model should be replicated across all of USAID."
A screenshot of a tweet by Senator Marco Rubio on June 20, 2019: stating: "Stop by the Senate Russell Rotunda this week to check out the amazing achievements of PEPFAR [The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief]. Thanks to the generosity of the American people, investments in PEPFAR have saved millions of lives, prevented infections, and transformed the global response to fight HIV/AIDS."
A statement from the Health GAP organization decrying the halt of funding for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and noting that grantees have been told to stop work - meaning adults, infants, and children with HIV will die and avertable cases of HIV acquisition will occur.
Image of an excerpt from the extreme right wing Project 2025 plan that the current US presidential administration is currently implementing, which states: "The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has shown that localization at scale is possible within a short time span. Over the four years of the Trump administration, the multibillion-dollar program increased the amount of funding disbursed to local entities from about 25 percent to nearly 70 percent with positive overall results. This model should be replicated across all of USAID."
Screenshot showing the Google search result for the HIV Language Guide published by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and updated September 2024.
Image of the Google search result for the Veteran's Administration LGBTQ+ Program webpage, which has been taken offline by the virulently bigoted incoming US administration.
Image of a flyer promoting an HIV cure research educational academy for community-based advocates being held in Philadelphia, February 24-26, 2025, sponsored by AVAC and several Martin Delaney HIV Cure Research Collaboratories.
A quote from RFK Jr's book. Under the subhead "All about the Money," it states: "Today, the presumption that HIV is the sole cause of AIDS is the central presumption of a multibillion-dollar industry. Everyone agrees that at least part of the explanation for its stupefying resilience is Dr. Fauci's relentless flow of cash."