When Carole Treston was a young nurse, she and her mother visited the AIDS Memorial Quilt in Washington, D.C. It stretched across the National Mall, made up of thousands of colorful squares, each one representing someone lost to AIDS. Her mother walked quietly, stopping when she noticed names belonging to people born around Carole’s age. That moment has stayed with Treston ever since.
Today, Carole Treston leads the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care and serves on the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS, known as PACHA. She remembers the early days of the HIV crisis as heartbreaking times. Back then, people had little hope. There were no strong treatments, and too many lives were lost too soon.
Now, decades later, HIV treatment and prevention have changed everything. Medicine can keep people healthy and even make the virus undetectable. Many young people have grown up never seeing the worst years of the epidemic. But Treston and other advocates fear that steep government budget cuts could undo the progress made over the past 40 years.
HIV prevention advocate talks ending the epidemicMitchell Warren, Executive Director of AVAC, talks HIV prevention, access to medicine, treatment and ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
As the country marks World AIDS Day, members of PACHA have sent a letter to the White House and Congress asking them to protect HIV funding. They warn that more than 30,000 new cases still occur every year in the U.S., and without strong support, infections could rise again. The council stressed that programs like the “Ending the HIV Epidemic” initiative have already saved lives and reduced new infections by 12% since 2019. Experts say fully funding this program could save up to $100 billion in health care costs by 2030.
Despite these successes, recent proposals in Congress would cut over a billion dollars from health agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). They would also shrink vital programs like the Ryan White Program, which helps people with HIV afford care and medicine.
While some government officials say efforts to fight HIV are still strong, PACHA members remain concerned. They remind people that when funding stops, services stop too — leaving thousands without testing, medicine, or clinic access.
Tori Cooper, another PACHA member and longtime advocate, worries most about the human toll. She works with the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, helping transgender and other vulnerable communities. “When people can’t get tested or treated,” she explained, “their viral load goes up — and that means HIV spreads more easily. These aren’t just numbers. These are parents, children, and friends.”
Dr. Philip Chan, an HIV specialist from Rhode Island who helped write the council’s letter, agrees. “HIV doesn’t care about politics or religion,” he said. “If we stop paying attention, people will keep getting infected.” He reminded leaders that the goal is to cut new infections by 75% by 2025 and 90% by 2030 — a mission that could fail without investment.
For Treston, every time she thinks back to the AIDS Memorial Quilt, she remembers the faces and stories behind each name. To her, the quilt is both a warning and a promise — a reminder of the painful past, and proof of what compassion and action can achieve.
“We now have the medicine, the knowledge, and the will to end HIV,” she said. “But we can only do it if we keep supporting the programs that made this progress possible.”
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