Larry William Chang

On the Cusp of Eliminating HIV | Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health Magazine The Rakai Health Sciences Program transformed global AIDS policies and cut new cases by 90%. How will its storied research and clinical legacy continue?

I was lucky to work w/the @rhsp-ug.bsky.social team years ago. A remarkable program; please read about them. Unconscionable that their work is imperiled given funding cuts.
magazine.publichealth.jhu.edu/2025/cusp-el...

Thx @kategrabowski.bsky.social, David, Gertrude, & @globalhealthnow.bsky.social

Rather annoying is NIH CSR sitting on an HIV-related application for 7 months, and then throwing it out.

The review cycle for HIV grant apps is supposed to be within 3 months. Submit Jan -> review in March-April.

HIV seroprevalence, incidence, and viral suppression among Ugandan males with bar or sex worker partners: a population-based study Background: Female bar or sex workers (FBSWs) in Eastern Africa experience a high burden of HIV. However, there is limited population-level data on HIV seroprevalence, incidence, and viral suppression...

Our two new population-based studies from #Uganda show EXTREMELY HIGH #HIV burden among female bar & sex workers & their partners w/incidence 3-6x higher than peers. Txt coverage is high, but not enough. Expanding #PrEP is essential.

www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

Trump’s USAID Cuts Halt Agent Orange Victims Program in Vietnam Fifty years after the Vietnam War ended, President Trump’s gutting of foreign aid has halted American efforts to address a toxic legacy and build a strategic partnership.

Agent Orange Twisted Her Limbs. The U.S. Is Abandoning a Vow to Help.

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/17/w... via @nytimes.com

The abrupt end of USAID-funded clinical trials is profoundly unethical USAID's stop-work order threatens to undo decades of progress in medical research ethics and cause harm to clinical trial participants.

"The abrupt termination of critical USAID-funded clinical trials, with insufficient time to safeguard the welfare of people who are participating, is profoundly unethical and utterly inexcusable"

www.statnews.com/2025/02/16/u... via @statnews.com

Detained at the doctor’s office: US immigration policy endangers health The elimination of protections against immigration action in healthcare facilities risks patient care, public health, and moral injury to providers, write Kathleen R Page and colleagues On 20 Januar...

A vital message from Kathleen Page, Co-Director of ccgheid.org, and colleagues. Detained at the doctor’s office: US immigration policy endangers health: www.bmj.com/content/388/...

Abandoning research participants is an unconscionable betrayal In 1964, the Declaration of Helsinki created a set of universal ethical principles to protect human participants in health research.1 Described as “the cornerstone of research ethics,”2 these principl...

🧵 Trump’s USAID funding freeze abruptly halted critical global health research, abandoning participants mid-trial. A gross ethical violation. @bachynski.bsky.social & I explain what happened and why it matters @bmj.com . ⬇️
www.bmj.com/content/388/...

Elon Musk’s Demolition Crew Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has been unleashed on federal agencies. ProPublica is attempting to document who is working with him and what they are doing.

We @propublica.org are tracking who is working with Elon Musk and what they are doing.

We have 20+ names so far including some that haven't yet been reported.

Help us investigate and send us tips 🔎: www.propublica.org/tips/federal...

projects.propublica.org/elon-musk-do...

Dozens of Clinical Trials Have Been Frozen in Response to Trump’s USAID Order (Gift Article) The stop-work order on U.S.A.I.D.-funded research has left thousands of people with experimental drugs and devices in their bodies, with no access to monitoring or care.

Read this heartbreaking piece by @stephanienolen.bsky.social on how Trump's dangerous stop-work order has led to patients in important clinical trials being abandoned. Quotes from @sharonhillier.bsky.social, Kenneth Ngure of @iasociety.bsky.social, & others.

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/06/h...

Dozens of Clinical Trials Have Been Frozen in Response to Trump’s USAID Order The stop-work order on U.S.A.I.D.-funded research has left thousands of people with experimental drugs and devices in their bodies, with no access to monitoring or care.

“We've betrayed the trust of ministries of health and the regulatory agencies in the countries where we were working and of the women who agreed to be in our studies...I’ve never seen anything like it in my 40 years of doing international research. It’s unethical, it’s dangerous and it’s reckless.”

Stopping #PEPFAR is anything but America 1st and here’s why (from a US perspective). Over the last 20 years working in Africa, I’ve watched China make massive gains here while PEPFAR has saved millions of lives and kept America influential. Cutting it now is a grave mistake.