Featured Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/MG25/Getty
Topics: Madonna, Donald Trump, Health
Callum Jones
Madonna has hit out at Donald Trump as she took to Instagram to mark World AIDS Day on Monday (December 1).
AIDS was first identified in 1981 when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) first reported cases in the US.
Human immunodeficiency virus, better known as HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, was first identified in 1983.
AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, and is the final stage of HIV where the immune system is severely damaged.
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While the AIDS epidemic wreaked havoc across the world in the 80s and 90s, new cases of the disease are still recorded to this day.
So, that's why days such as World AIDS Day are so important, and Madonna, who has long been an advocate for AIDS/HIV, took to Instagram on Monday to spread awareness while also issuing a message to President Trump.
"Today is World AIDS Day. For four decades, this day has been internationally recognized around the world by people from all walks of life, because millions of people’s lives have been touched by the HIV crisis," the singer penned.
"People have lost lovers and husbands and wives and girlfriends and boyfriends and mothers and daughters and children to this deadly disease, of which there is still no cure. Donald Trump has announced that World AIDS Day should no longer be acknowledged.
"It’s one thing to order federal agents to refrain from commemorating this day, but to ask the general public to pretend it never happened is ridiculous, it’s absurd, it’s unthinkable."
The New York Times reported that the US State Department instructed its employees last month not to use federal funding to mark the day.
The report noted it was now government policy to 'refrain from messaging on any commemorative days'.
State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott told the New York Times in a statement: "An awareness day is not a strategy. Under the leadership of President Trump, the State Department is working directly with foreign governments to save lives and increase their responsibility and burden sharing."
But, more crucially, the US has slashed its funding on global HIV/AIDS prevention.
UNAIDS, the UN's joint AIDS prevention programme, has warned some 3.3 million additional HIV cases could emerge in the next five years, partly thanks to funding to prevent the disease being 30-40 percent lower this year than in 2023.
Trump cut all US overseas aid funding in January. Foreign aid has been significantly reduced since then - with other countries also slashing spending on overseas aid.
This has resulted in a huge drop in the number of people taking HIV prevention medication such as PrEP, which has fallen by 64 percent in Burundi and 38 percent in Uganda, while 60 percent of women-led HIV organizations have lost funding or been forced to close down.
In the Instagram post, Madonna touched on how AIDS has impacted her life in terms of personal losses.
She wrote: "I bet [Trump's] never watched his best friend die of AIDS, held their hand, and watched the blood drain from their face as they took their last breath at the age of 23.
"The list of people that I have known and loved and lost to AIDS is pretty long. I’m sure many of you out there can relate."
The disease has also impacted Trump's life too after his mentor Roy Cohn died from AIDS complications in 1986.
The 'Like A Prayer' singer added: "Let me say it one more time – there still isn’t a cure for AIDS and people still die from it. I refuse to acknowledge that these people have died in vain. And I will continue to honor World AIDS Day, and I hope you will honor it with me."