HIV infections among young gay and bisexual men in Canada are on the rise, and national HIV infections overall increased by 23% between 2022 and 2024. If the orange menace from the South is not to blame, then what is? Journalist Kevin Hurren of Uncloseted Media suggests that these are consequences of inadequate government funding, gaps in sexual-health education, and limited access to community-based services. Canadian HIV/AIDS organizations warn that federal funding has remained nearly stagnant for two decades and that proposed changes to public-health funding could further reduce resources, while organizations working with young people have already had to scale back what they can offer. Furthermore, international students and newcomers face particular challenges, as they may arrive with limited access to LGBTQ+ affirming sexual health information, and face other linguistic and cultural barriers to prevention and care.
Meanwhile, in the United States, it’s too early to tell whether the Trump administration’s policies will lead to a rise in HIV transmission rates. Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, a former CDC HIV/AIDS official who resigned in 2025, recently argued that the Trump administration has undermined scientific public-health policy and marginalized LGBTQ+ communities. He cites that HIV prevention and treatment programs have faced severe funding cuts because HIV has been characterized within the administration as “too woke,” while LGBTQ+ health data have also been removed and/or obscured. Daskalakis warns that these policies could reverse decades of progress against HIV and lead to an erosion of LGBTQ+ communities’ trust in public-health institutions.
WATCH AN INTERVIEW WITH DR. DASKALAKIS HERE:
