Essential Access Health Responds to STI and HIV Prevention Funding Cuts in Los Angeles County

Los Angeles, CA – On April 30th, Essential Access Health received written notification from Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Division of HIV and STD Programs (DHSP) that its contract to provide critical prevention services will be terminated effective May 31, 2025, due to unprecedented uncertainty surrounding federal funding. 

“This is a devastating blow to the communities hit hardest by the HIV and STI epidemics,” said Dr. Nomsa Khalfani, Co-CEO of Essential Access Health. “Eliminating funding for frontline prevention services will have immediate and dangerous consequences — more missed diagnoses, higher rates of infection, and more people left without care. State and local leaders must act now to protect the health and well-being of our communities and preserve California’s public health infrastructure.”

STI rates are unacceptably high in the United States and, if left undetected and untreated, can cause long-term health complications and challenges including infertility and chronic pain, increased risk of HIV infection and some types of cancer, and even lead to devastating outcomes like miscarriage and stillbirth. California, in particular, has the highest number of STI cases in the nation.

According to DHSP, the decision to cut funding is a direct result of not having received its full federal award for the Ryan White Program Year 35, which began on March 1, as well as a lack of commitment from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to support Los Angeles County’s HIV Prevention and Surveillance cooperative agreement for the next grant term starting June 1. 

Critical STI prevention services that will be halted in Los Angeles County as a consequence of the funding cuts include Essential Access Health’s expedited partner therapy distribution program, clinical trainings, capacity-building support for community-based organizations, and public awareness campaigns, which collectively reached nearly 100,000 people in the last two years.

The funding cuts will also halt the distribution of hundreds of thousands of resources within the county, including condoms and other barrier methods, educational materials, clinical tools, harm reduction supplies, pregnancy prevention products, hygiene products, rapid syphilis tests, and more.

As part of End the Epidemics, a statewide coalition of more than 120 community-based organizations, Essential Access is advocating for the state to commit $60 million in the fiscal year 2026 budget to cover cuts to prevention programs. The funding could be reallocated from revenue generated from the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), which has generated more than $1 billion that California could use for this purpose.

Essential Access is also calling on local and state leaders to step in to fill STI prevention funding gaps. “While we understand the multiple challenges and stressors of reduced resources during this time, prevention and early treatment are far more cost-effective than the long-term costs of untreated infections, and we can’t turn our backs on the urgent need to address the health inequities caused by our ongoing STI public health crisis,” added Dr. Khalfani.

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Essential Access Health advances reproductive equity and champions quality sexual and reproductive health care for all through distributing public funding, policy advocacy, research, training and capacity building for the health care workforce, and youth and community empowerment. We work to ensure that everyone, everywhere can get the care they want and need, where and how they need it, with dignity and respect.