IDSA criticizes White House 2020 budget efforts on public health response

The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) warned this week that President Donald Trump’s 2020 budget proposal not only neglects but actively undermines investments necessary to maintain immediate and long-term responses to infectious disease threats.

The organization lauded the $58 million provided for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the opioid crisis, $100 million in base funding for the CDC’s global health security activities and $50 million for the CDC Infectious Disease Rapid Response Fund — but noted that the funds still fall short of the necessities to stop outbreaks.

“In evident denial of the continuing threat posed by emerging infections and the growing dangers posed by antibiotic resistant infections, the plan proposes an overall decrease of $4.7 billion in funding for National Institutes of Health,” the IDSA stated. “That reduction includes a drop of $769 million for biomedical research at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and an $11 million cut in funding for worldwide projects identifying disease challenges and solutions through the Fogarty International Center. These cuts, if enacted would gravely challenge our ability to develop innovative diagnostic tools, medicines, and vaccines to meet current and emerging disease threats, and to build the next generation of researchers.”

Cuts to domestic and global public health programs could cripple American response capabilities. The organization pointed to a $103 million reduction in funding for the National Center for Zoonotic and Infectious Diseases, hamstringing efforts to fight antibiotic resistance, which IDSA noted as the third leading cause of death in the U.S. currently. They also noted a $750 million cut in overall CDC funding, a $460 million cut in anti-AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria efforts worldwide and another $970 million cut to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief more locally.

“These cuts would come at a time when ending the worldwide public health threat of these leading infectious disease killers is within sight,” the organization stated. “These proposed cuts stand at odds with the administration’s stated goal to ‘end HIV here and everywhere.’”