Administration transfers funding from infectious disease response to unaccompanied alien children program

In a move the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the HIV Medicine Association warn could threaten public health responses, the Trump Administration has transferred funds from infectious disease prevention, care, and biomedical research programs into its unaccompanied alien children program.

The decision transfers $186 million from the Department of Health and Human Services. It negatively affects programs across the agency, such as those under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Health Resources and Services Administration, and the National Institutes of Health.

“Our organizations previously raised concerns regarding the public health implications of the administration’s family separation and border policies,” the organizations wrote in a statement. “We reiterate that taking funds from public health and research programs critical to preventing and controlling infectious diseases in order to support a program where costs for a number of years have outpaced the amount of funding available to support it is counterproductive and short-sighted.”

The organization’s release stated that the decision was made as the nation prepares for flu season, confronts unprecedented increases in cases of sexually transmitted diseases, and spikes in infections linked to the opioid crisis. Those challenges faced in the United States as well as those faced globally, including an ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, “highlights needs for national and global public health system and research investments,” the organizations wrote.

The Infectious Diseases Society of America and the HIV Medicine Association have urged Congress to intervene in the matter and guarantee funding to these health programs. They also want to see the legislative body protect the funds against reallocation in the future.

“We urge the administration to seek, and the Congress to appropriate, a level of funding sufficient to support the ‘Unaccompanied Alien Children’ program in a manner that will ensure safe and healthy conditions for children,” the statement read.