The US presidential administration proposed a Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) “skinny budget” that would drastically cut global health, HIV prevention, and biomedical research. While only a topline framework submitted to Congress (since Congress has the actual “power of the purse”), the budget proposes $163 billion in cuts to non-defense discretionary spending, including a 26% reduction to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the department that oversees the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and FDA. The proposed budget would cut the NIH by nearly $18 billion, continue to gut USAID’s global health work, and eliminate research and programs on gender, DEI, and climate.  

IMPLICATIONS: This proposed skinny budget is an effort to embed into the formal budget process the cuts made by recent Executive Orders, which are being currently challenged in multiple court cases. If this proposed skinny budget is approved by Congress and becomes law, it would further decimate the infrastructure needed to accelerate science and innovation, hamper delivery of HIV prevention, stall progress on new tools like injectable PrEP, and weaken global preparedness for future pandemics. This is a profound retreat from science and equity.  

FIGHT BACK: Join us later today for a critical conversation, Science in the Crosshairs: Research Advocacy in a Time of Crisis where we will discuss the escalating threats to health research and equity-centered science. This webinar will explore the implications of the proposed FY26 budget and what these attacks mean for communities, researchers, and implementers, and will identify actionable advocacy strategies to fight back. 

READ:  

• Trump budget proposes unprecedented, 'reckless' cuts to foreign aid—Devex  
• Trump’s Reagan Moment on HIV/AIDS — Ratevosian Substack 

Secretary of HHS, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., will appear before the US Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee on May 14 to discuss the FY26 budget proposal for the Department of Health and Human Services. 

AVAC and more than a dozen partners submitted a letter to the Senate HELP Committee for the record urging lawmakers to reject the cuts to NIH funding for HIV, TB, and STI research and highlighting the impact of these cuts on lifesaving innovation and research infrastructure. 

READ/WATCH:  

• Hearing on Fiscal Year 2026 Department of Health and Human Services Budget—Senate Help Committee 
• US Health Secretary Kennedy to testify before Senate panel May 14—Reuters  

A confidential memo from the UN80 Initiative Task Force outlines proposals to restructure the UN system in response to budget pressures. This includes a potential merger of UNAIDS into the World Health Organization (WHO). The proposal frames this merger as a strategy to create a more “unified and efficient global health authority,” as UNAIDS faces deep financial uncertainty following the loss of US funding. In addition this week, UNAIDS announced that it will layoff more than 50% of staff in a massive restructuring. UNAIDS now plans to reduce the current number of staff from 608 to approximately 280 over time, according to a communique from the UNAIDS cabinet, seen by Devex. 

IMPLICATIONS: The merger would fundamentally reshape global HIV governance. It could shift the focus from civil society and multi-stakeholder advocacy and community leadership of UNAIDS to a more technocratic, health-systems-oriented approach under WHO. Such a move risks sidelining civil society voices and undermining the rights-based, equity-driven response that has been central to HIV progress for decades. 

READ:  

• Exclusive: Full Text of UN80 Task Force Pitch for Streamlined UN; UNAIDs Merger with WHO—Health Policy Watch 
• UNAIDS will lose more than 50% of staff in restructuring—Devex   

Dr. Vinay Prasad, an oncologist and professor at the University of California, San Francisco, was appointed as the director of the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER). CBER oversees the regulation of vaccines, gene therapies, and other biologic products.  

IMPLICATIONS: Prasad has been critical of expedited reviews for vaccines and other biologics in the past. His appointment could slow approval of new innovations and shift the agency toward more ideologically conservative regulatory standards.  

READ:  

• Vinay Prasad tapped to run FDA center that regulates vaccines, gene therapies—STAT  
• FDA Commissioner Marty Makary taps Vinay Prasad to head up CBER—Fierce Pharma 

A new plaintiff, The Center for Victims of Torture, has joined AVAC’s lawsuit challenging the US government’s foreign aid freeze. Their inclusion underscores the urgent harm being caused to organizations as funding remains delayed or denied. Since April 23, the government has processed 59 payments for work completed before February 13. Seventy-nine payments remain outstanding. The government says these are more complex and is targeting May 15 as a deadline completion. They also note receiving 47 new payment requests from plaintiffs recently. 

READ: Center for Victims of Torture Joins Lawsuit Challenging Halt to Foreign Aid Funding—Center for Victims of Torture