The grants supported a broad range of public health functions, including H.I.V. prevention and disease surveillance, in Democratic-led states.
The Trump administration plans to rescind $600 million dollars in public health funds from four states led by Democrats, with its grants becoming “inconsistent with agency priorities,” according to The New York Times.
The programs scheduled for cutbacks are in California, Colorado, Illinois, and Minnesota. These include grants to state and local public health departments. A list of cuts was shared on Monday and viewed by relevant congressional committees.
The funds are administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to The New York Times. These funds include grants for hiring staff, modernizing data, and managing disease outbreaks. Some programs are also aimed at the needs of specific communities.
Many of these cuts will be finalized by the end of this week, and others over the coming weeks. Nearly two-thirds of the funding remains unspent and is allocated to California’s local health department.
A spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services said, “These grants are being terminated because they do not reflect agency priorities.”
Additionally, two dozen of these grants were aimed at curbing H.IV and sexually transmitted diseases.
C.D.C.’s chief medical officer, who resigned in August, stated that Congress had already appropriated those funds, explaining, “It is concerning that H.H.S. is cutting public health funding to local communities that cover core functions in the middle of a measles outbreak and other health threats,” she said. “This coupled with large staffing cuts to federal public health leaves communities less prepared.”
The rescinded funding included several large grants to state health departments, according to a list compiled by The New York Times.
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7.2 million from the American Medical Association in Illinois to support gender transitions for children.
$5.2 million from Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago for increasing H.I.V. prevention therapy, specifically among Black women.
$876,000 from the Prevention Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco, to address “reducing social isolation among older L.G.B.T.Q. adults.”
$371,000 from the Colorado Health Network Inc. to focus on “engaging Latino and African American” men who have sex with men.
The C.D.C.’s website was revised in September, detailing the “agency’s new priorities,” which include shifting away from a focus on diseases that predominantly affect certain populations.
The agency now states, the focus “has not translated into measurable improved health for minority populations, and in many cases has undermined core American values.”