At a rally in Cincinnati, the president claims that the US is about to cure childhood cancer and end the AIDS epidemic, okay I am not from Missouri, but Show Me (not that you pervert, people are watching).

Several outlets are reporting this; this comes from Newsweek

The president provided no evidence to support the assertion and did not explain how or when he expects these hugely significant milestones to be achieved. Though the crowd at the U.S Bank Arena were delighted by the president’s promises, social media users and scientists were more skeptical.

According to Kaiser Health News, the cure rate for pediatric cancers in the U.S. is currently around 80 percent. However, except childhood leukemia, the cure rates have not budged in the past 20 years.

So, Donnie, what’s the plan? Well, none of course.  He promised to fund “more” research, but not in any meaningful way.

Research is not glamorous, it’s tedious, and even if you find something, you need to have someone else do the same study with different people and see if it works the same way. It is underfunded, and traditionally there is very little government support, since, you know it is the big government.

Look I am not mocking conservatives (ok I am), but conservatives have been very resistant about opening their pocketbooks and about spending on science as a whole.  Conservatives have a screwy vision for healthcare, and this research is part of just that. So why did he say that?  Most likely political points.  I would be hard-pressed to believe that this administration would throw any more than minimal money to research; and this is childhood cancer, an easy one, AIDS? Hmmm…

HIV/AIDS is also mentioned and was mentioned in the state of the union speech, although I have less belief in this than I do cancer (and that is next to no belief).

HIV in itself is far beyond a complex retrovirus.  It has been historically underfunded, blocked research, and just screwed up treatment of those living with it, in the name of prevention.  GOP darling and wax museum model Ronnie Reagan didn’t even acknowledge the epidemic until it was eight years old. HW Bush about the same with some very distinct blocking of legislation. I mean, after all, it’s just the gays most effected by it an easy disease to just write off.

At the State of the Union, Trump also set the goal of ending all HIV transmission in the U.S. by 2030. At the time, Kaiser described the achievement as “doable but daunting.” Given the mammoth nature of the task, it seems unlikely that the Trump administration will have achieved the goal with more than ten years to spare.

Some 1.1 million people in the U.S. are currently living with HIV. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, around 38,700 were newly infected in 2016. The number of new infections began to level off in 2013 at around 39,000 per year, following five consecutive years of significant decline.

 

The truth is that we are no closer to a cure than we have been.  There are many things “in the pipe,” but things fail to pan out or fall flat because of lack of funding.  Why the change?  Most likely politics, plain and simple.  This president has a horrible track record with science. He is an anti-vaxxer for the most part.  I would love it if it were true, but realism tells me that this is just a line like everything else.