The Trump administration has a plan to end the U.S. HIV epidemic by 2030, but psychologists say it won’t succeed without addressing the psychosocial issues driving the epidemic

About 1.1 million people in the United States have been diagnosed with HIV, and each year about 39,000 more learn that they have the virus. Meanwhile, fewer than half of those living with HIV have the virus under control, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and only about 15% of those at high risk for contracting HIV are being treated with pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a drug that protects against the virus.

In his 2019 State of the Union address, President Donald J. Trump announced an ambitious new goal: to stop the HIV epidemic in the United States by 2030. By focusing on “hot spots” of new infections—48 U.S. counties, seven rural states and two cities—the administration aims to reduce new infections by 75% over the next five years and by 90% over the next decade. In October, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) through the CDC awarded $13.5 million in its first round of funding to local and state departments of health, and the fiscal year 2020 HHS budget will include $291 million in new funding to address the HIV epidemic.

However, how all of that money will be used is still an open question. Read more at the Monitor on Psychology.