Washington, D.C. — A new Center for American Progress analysis examines the ways climate change and natural disasters are interfering with care for people who are living with HIV, increasing the likelihood that the disease will spread in disaster-prone areas.
CAP analysis of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) 2023 National Risk Index shows the average climate risk index score for the 50 high-priority Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. program (EHE) jurisdictions where almost 50 percent of all HIV diagnoses occur is 96.8 out of 100. This means that roughly 1 in 2 people living with HIV are living in some of the nation’s most at-risk areas.
When a natural disaster hits, people with HIV often face interruptions to the medications they take to keep the virus levels low and other care. Interruptions to care can take someone with undetectable HIV with a near zero probability of transmission to a transmissible viral load. Additionally, patients with interrupted care face the risks that their disease will advance. There is also an increased likelihood that they develop other health conditions that disproportionately affect immunocompromised individuals. This is because when a natural disaster hits, people miss doses or lose access to pharmacies to get their medication in the first place.
The new CAP analysis also offers solutions at the local, state, and federal levels for what policymakers can do to protect people with HIV from climate change. The analysis comes as there are new concerns that the incoming Trump administration could dismantle public health programs. The Trump administration is also expected to roll back efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, exposing Americans to extreme weather risks and jeopardizing public health.
“A holistic approach is necessary to protect these individuals’ health while making sure that climate change doesn’t unravel the progress that the country has already made to end the HIV epidemic in the United States,” said Haley Norris, policy analyst for LGBTQI+ Policy at CAP and author of the column.
Read the column: “Climate Change Jeopardizes HIV Care in the U.S.” by Haley Norris
For more information or to speak with an expert, please contact Jasmine Razeghi at [email protected].