CINCINNATI – Reported federal cuts to HIV prevention programs would have “deeply alarming” impacts on work in Kentucky and Ohio, according to organizations doing the work here.

On March 18, NBC News cited an anonymous source claiming the Trump administration planned to cut more than $1 billion from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) budget, effectively gutting its HIV prevention division.

The source claimed the plan was still in preliminary stages and could involve moving some of the division’s responsibilities to other Department of Health and Human Services divisions. Another plan, according to the source, would cut about $700 million from the budget.

That CDC division is responsible for tracking infections, supporting testing and prevention methods, doing research, and expanding access to federal funds.

“Prevention is kind of the silver bullet that we think will, you know, drive the momentum to end the epidemic,” said Janiece Jones, president and CEO of Cincinnati-based Caracole.

Caracole provides a slate of services including HIV testing, prevention services like pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) guidance, case management, and supporting housing.

The organization reports CDC funding cuts would impact all prevention efforts, specifically testing.

“We immediately activated our networks,” Jones said. Staff members will be in DC for AIDSWatch in DC in early May. Jones said the existing executive orders and ongoing rumors of cuts are making long-range planning more difficult.

Hamilton County, home to Cincinnati and Caracole, is one of the target areas for a 2019 plan called Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. (EHE), proposed by President Donald Trump’s first administration. The goals included a 75% reduction in new HIV cases nationwide by 2025 and a 90% reduction by 2030.

Jones told Queer Kentucky that Hamilton County saw a 40% decline in new HIV cases from 2019 to 2023.

“We want to keep moving,” Jones said. “We want to keep the momentum and these types of funds are what we need to do that.”

Across much of Kentucky, prevention services are largely handled by public health departments and the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. There are other groups, including Lexington’s AVOL, which are working toward prevention goals. AVOL did not return a request for comment by publication time.

The cabinet said it had not received any official notice of cuts. In a statement to Queer Kentucky, a spokesperson added the cabinet has helped ensure those county health departments have access to HIV testing and has increased self-testing across the state. The cabinet also has a strategic plan aligned with the federal 2019-era EHE plan.

“Funding reductions that could affect Kentucky’s ability to diagnose, prevent, treat, and respond to HIV could put entire communities at greater risk,” a cabinet spokesperson wrote.

Ohio-based Equitas Health also serves the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area. In a news release, its president and CEO David Ernesto Munar called the rumored cuts “counterintuitive.”

“The CDC’s tracking, research, testing, and prevention programs are critical tools in the nationwide, interconnected efforts of organizations like ours,” Munar wrote. “The government should be in the business of removing barriers to the success of public health programs, not creating instability and fear with broad, abrupt funding cuts.”

Equitas Health joined 10 other organizations nationwide in a unified condemnation of the possible cuts earlier in March, calling it “costly” and “devastating.”

A group of 100 Senators and representatives on March 21 sent a letter to President Trump urging full funding for HIV/AIDS prevention.

The lawmakers noted that under the passed Continuing Resolution, funding continues at 2024 levels, including for the CDC’s HIV prevention division. They also expressed concern that the flagship Ryan White HIV/AID Program, also under HHS, would be the sole remaining program. Statute does not allow that program to provide prevention services, according to the lawmakers, it is focused on those living with the disease.

They wrote in part, “Prevention provides a large return on investment for the federal government – adjusted for inflation, a lifetime of medical costs for a person with HIV can be over $500,000.”

Caracole’s Jones agreed, also noting other executive action by President Trump.

“I think that the cost is just astronomical,” Jones said. “I’m sure many economists would agree with me that our goal is to have healthy, thriving communities where folks are able to contribute to themselves, their dreams, their education, their children, their communities, and anything that creates a barrier to that, I think, is harmful to all of us.”

That includes a January executive order directing federal agencies to terminate diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEI/A) programs and policies. The CDC shortly after pulled down HIV surveillance reports and other data. Per a court order, some sites have been restored, but with a note from the Trump Administration rejecting transgender data.

As of March 18, an HHS spokesperson told NBC News there had been no decision yet on “streamlining” HIV programs.