The Maine Medical Association and other health care organizations are criticizing the Trump administration's decision not to recognize World AIDs day Monday, December 1.
The Frannie Peabody Center in Portland supports people affected by HIV/AIDs. Executive Director Katie Rutherford said the silence of previous administrations helped fueled the epidemic "and fueled stigma associated with HIV," she said. "We saw this in the late '80s. I mean this epidemic started in 1981 and we didn't see the Reagan administration publicly acknowledge the AIDS epidemic until the late 80s."
The Trump administration has also proposed eliminating the U.S. CDC's Division of HIV Prevention.
Maine is currently dealing with an ongoing outbreak of roughly 30 HIV cases in Bangor. Rutherford says cases are also on the rise in Cumberland County.
