State Department Permits Distribution of H.I.V. Medications to Resume for Now

The Trump administration on Tuesday issued a waiver for lifesaving medicines and medical services, offering a reprieve for a worldwide H.I.V.treatment program that was halted last week.The waiver, announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, seemed to allow for the distribution of H.I.V.

medications, but whether the waiver extended to preventive drugs or other services offered by the program, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, was not immediately clear.Still, PEPFAR’s future remains in jeopardy, with potential consequences for more than 20 million people — including 500,000 children — who could lose access to lifesaving medications.Without treatment, millions of people with H.I.V.

in low-income countries would be at risk of full-blown AIDS and of premature death.“We can very rapidly return to where the pandemic is exploding, like it was back in the 1980s,” said Dr.Steve Deeks, an H.I.V.

expert at the University of California, San Francisco.“This really cannot happen,” he said.On Monday, the Trump administration ordered health organizations in other countries to immediately stop distributing H.I.V.medications purchased with U.S.

aid.The directive stemmed from a freeze — which may become permanent — in the activities of PEPFAR, a $7.5 billion program overseen by the State Department.Since it started in 2003, PEPFAR is estimated to have saved more than 25 million lives; more than 5.5 million children have been born free of H.I.V.

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