WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — For the first time since 1988, the U.S. government has chosen not to observe December 1 as “World AIDS Day.” 

In a notice to its employees, the U.S. State Department warned against using government funds to commemorate the day. 

The directive is part of a broader policy “to refrain from messaging on any commemorative days, including World AIDS Day,” according to an email viewed by The New York Times.

Employees were told to “refrain from publicly promoting World AIDS Day through any communication channels, including social media, media engagements, speeches or other public-facing messaging.”

“An awareness day is not a strategy,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott told the Times. “Under the leadership of President Trump, the State Department is working directly with foreign governments to save lives and increase their responsibility and burden sharing.”

In a statement to ABC News, White House spokesman Kush Desai said that the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS (PACHA) “is a largely symbolic body whose members are engaging in another useless PR exercise that has no connection to the Trump administration’s robust work to tackle HIV and AIDS.”

Since the start of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, an estimated 300,000 homosexual men have died of the disease in the United States. 

A total of over 44 million people worldwide have succumbed to AIDS over the last four decades, including approximately 630,000 deaths due to AIDS in 2024.