David Furnish is warning that political decisions are putting decades of progress against HIV and AIDS at risk. In an Independent Voices comment piece, the chair of the Elton John AIDS Foundation said criminalization and funding cuts targeting LGBTQ+ organizations are weakening community-led HIV prevention and care efforts. Furnish wrote, “I am writing this because that legacy is now at risk.
The threat isn’t the virus. It’s politics.” He also talked about long-acting PrEP options, including lenacapavir. He pointed to setbacks in HIV prevention, citing a 41 percent reduction in PrEP initiation through PEPFAR and 4.7 million fewer HIV tests in 2025 compared to 2024. He linked today’s HIV response to AIDS activism led by ACT UP and warned that growing criminalization and cuts to queer groups could undermine public health efforts worldwide. “Equality is not separate from public health. It is public health.”
