(With thanks to Global Health Now)
Read in full: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/public-health/removal-pages-cdc-website-bring...
'Several pages on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website remain offline today amid a move by the Trump administration to remove all language related to gender identity and LGBTQ issues from government communications.
'According to social media posts from researchers and journalists, pages on the CDC website started to disappear late last week, with searches producing the message "The page you're looking for was not found." Among the many pages that remain down are Health Disparities Among LQBTQ Youth, Interim Clinical Considerations for Use of Vaccine for Mpox Prevention, and Fast Facts: HIV and Transgender People.
'The moves are linked to an executive order issued by the Trump administration that stated the federal government will only recognize an individual's "immutable biological classification" as either male or female and that gender identity cannot be recognized as a replacement for sex. The order calls for all agencies to "remove all statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications, or other internal and external messages that promote or otherwise inculcate gender ideology, and shall cease issuing such statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications or other messages." [...]
'In a joint statement, the heads of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the HIV Medicine Association said the removal of HIV- and LGBTQ-related resources from the CDC's website "is deeply concerning and creates a dangerous gap in scientific information and data to monitor and respond to disease outbreaks."
"Access to this information is crucial for infectious diseases and HIV health care professionals who care for people with HIV and members of the LGBTQ community and is critical to efforts to end the HIV epidemic," said IDSA President Tina Tan, MD, and HIVMA Chair Colleen Kelley, MD, MPH.
"This is especially important as diseases such as HIV, mpox, sexually transmitted infections and other illnesses threaten public health and impact the entire population. Timely and accurate information from the CDC guides clinical practice and policies, which are essential for controlling infections and safeguarding health."...
'Mass retraction of papers submitted to journals
In related news, Jeremy Faust, MD, reported in his Inside Medicine newsletter on Substack that the CDC has instructed its scientists to retract or pause the publication of any research manuscript being considered by any medical or scientific journal.'
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org