US will no longer commemorate World Aids Day, reports say

For the first time since 1988, the US government will no longer commemorate World Aids Day, according to reports.

The state department has directed its employees and grant recipients not to use US government funds to mark the event – which falls annually on 1 December – and not to promote the day publicly. The news was first reported by the journalist Emily Bass and confirmed in an email viewed by the New York Times.

Employees and grantees could still “tout the work” on Aids being done through various programs “to counter this dangerous disease and other infectious diseases around the world”, the email reportedly said. They may also attend events related to the commemoration.

But they should “refrain from publicly promoting World Aids Day through any communication channels, including social media, media engagements, speeches or other public-facing messaging”.

The email also reportedly said the government’s policy is “to refrain from messaging on any commemorative days, including World AIDS Day”, even though Donald Trump has issued proclamations for dozens of other observances, including World Intellectual Property Day and National Manufacturing Day.

“An awareness day is not a strategy,” a state department spokesperson, Tommy Piggott, told the New York Times. “Under the leadership of President Trump, the state department is working directly with foreign governments to save lives and increase their responsibility and burden sharing.”

Every year since 1988, the US has marked 1 December as World Aids Day to honor those who have lost their lives to the disease, to recognize and highlight efforts to contain the epidemic, and to raise awareness among the general public.

Last year, in a cermony on the South Lawn, Joe Biden hosted the first White House display of Aids memorial quilt panels memorializing more than 110,000 lives lost.

Since returning to the White House, Trump has cancelled foreign aid programs that combat HIV and Aids, scrapped research and prevention resources, and restricted funding under the two-decade-old President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief, or Pepfar, the government’s global HIV program established under the Republican president George W Bush, which is estimated to have prevented 25 million early deaths.

World Aids Day is usually when the state department shares Pepfar data about cumulative and annual progress with Congress. It’s not clear if the department still plans to send it.

The state department has not yet replied to a request for comment.