Several US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) websites and datasets related to HIV, LGBTQ people, youth health behaviors, and more have been removed after the agency was directed to comply with executive orders from President Donald Trump.
The orders require the elimination of federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and require the government to recognize only two sexes: male and female. A memo issued by the US Office of Personnel Management directs agency heads to remove “all outward-facing media (websites, social media accounts, etc.) that inculcate or promote gender ideology” by 5 p.m. Friday.
As a result, several CDC pages related to HIV, including the CDC’s HIV index page, testing page, datasets, national surveillance reports, and causes pages, have been taken down. Many of the CDC’s sites related to LGBTQ youth, including pages that mentioned LGBT children’s risk of suicide, those focused on creating safe schools for LGBTQ youth, and a page focused on health disparities among LGBTQ youth, have also been removed.
Additionally, the site for the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, a long-running survey that tracks health behaviors among high school students in the United States, said “The page you’re looking for was not found.” Other removed pages include a page about food safety during pregnancy and AtlasPlus, an interactive tool that lets users analyze CDC data on HIV, STDs, TB, and viral hepatitis.
The removal of these pages has raised concerns among health experts and scholars, who argue that access to CDC information is crucial for health-care providers and that timely, accurate information is essential for controlling infections and safeguarding health.
Leaders of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the HIV Medicine Association have called for the restoration of the removed pages, stating that the removal of HIV- and LGBTQ-related resources creates a dangerous gap in scientific information and data to monitor and respond to disease outbreaks.
Scholars and activists on social media have also encouraged others to archive CDC data, and the Association of Health Care Journalists has requested that the sites be restored immediately, citing the importance of the missing datasets for informing the public about various health issues.