The San Antonio AIDS Foundation (SAAF) has suspended free testing services from starting this Monday due to White House-imposed cuts in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funding.
“Due to CDC fund changes, DSHS has required that all testing be paused until further notice,” SAAF officials said in an Instagram post announcing the development. “We expect this pause to be brief and hope to provide testing again very soon. We will share updates as soon as we have them.”
Free HIV testing benefits local communities by enabling early detection and reducing transmission rates, according to the National Institutes for Health (NIH). Forty percent of HIV transmission cases are by people who don’t know they have the autoimmune disease, federal data shows. Roughly 15% of people living with HIV in the U.S. are unaware of their status, according to the NIH.
Early detection can also improve health outcomes for people with HIV and reduce the chance of developing related illnesses.
“We understand this news may be concerning, especially for those who rely on such services,” SAAF’s post continued, adding that the center is actively working to restore services.
Until then, SAAF says it will share alternative locations where San Antonians can get tested safely and confidentially. In addition to HIV testing, SAAF also offers testing for gonorrhea, syphilis and chlamydia. All screening services are provided free of charge at the facility.
Since Trump took office, the administration has slashed hundreds of millions of dollars in CDC grant funding earmarked for HIV-related programs at health departments, universities and nonprofits.
At least 230 HIV-specific NIH grants have been canceled so far, according to medical journal JHEOR.
Trump’s “big, beautiful” budget bill now under consideration by the U.S. Senate would further reduce discretionary spending for the Department of Health and Human Services, slashing its budget by 26%, including $18 billion in cuts for the NIH, JHEOR reports. Trump’s plan also would cut the CDC budget nearly in half, the journal warns.
Colleen Kelley, chair of the HIV Medicine Association and Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases at Emory University, said in a statement provided to JHEOR that “drastic cuts to HIV public health and research programs proposed in the president’s budget would leave America’s HIV response in peril if enacted.”
Medical professionals also caution the cuts could prompt a backslide after a 12% decline in HIV infections was recorded from 2018 to 2022.
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This article appears in May 29 – Jun 11, 2025.
