BANGOR — Health organizations provided HIV prevention and testing resources Monday to honor World AIDS Day, which comes as the state faces the largest HIV outbreak in its history.
Meanwhile, the federal government is ending nearly four decades of recognition for the day, as the Trump administration warned employees last month not to use government funds for the occasion or publicly promote it.
Health leaders in Maine denounced the decision, saying it amounts to turning a blind eye toward the disease.
Penobscot County has had 30 positive HIV cases since late 2023 — up from an average of two cases per year. It has largely impacted Bangor’s homeless population and those who use intravenous drugs, prompting local efforts to strengthen health and social services.
“We’ve seen in history what happens when the federal government refuses to acknowledge HIV and AIDS infections in our country,” said Olivia Pennington, director of advocacy and community engagement at Maine Family Planning, which provides reproductive and sexual health services across the state.
“We know that turning away from HIV and AIDS doesn’t do anything to help treat folks.”
Health organizations set up tables Monday in the Unitarian Universalist Society of Bangor to provide community members with free resources like at-home HIV tests, condoms, hygiene products and PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, a preventive medication taken by people at high risk for HIV infection.
Gabrielle Drew chatted with employees from Needlepoint Sanctuary of Maine, a Bangor nonprofit that provides harm reduction and syringe services. Drew, who lives in Bangor and is unhoused, said she decided to get on PrEP as HIV cases increased this year.
“A lot of us use needles, and that’s where everyone was getting it from,” said Drew, 35. “Me and my boyfriend, we don’t have it and we don’t want to get it.”
Drew is among more than 100 Bangor community members who have gotten on PrEP in the past few months through a campaign orchestrated by Needlepoint Sanctuary and Maine Family Planning, which brought prevention resources and a mobile medical unit to the church Monday.
Federal CDC officials are expected to arrive in Bangor early this week to learn more about the outbreak and collect qualitative data in the community.
While cases have slowed in Penobscot County, five people tested positive in Cumberland County this year and the state recently put out a public health advisory encouraging HIV testing among people in Cumberland County who use injectable drugs.
The Frannie Peabody Center, Maine’s largest HIV and AIDS service organization, held a World AIDS Day resource fair and candlelit vigil in Portland.
In addition to the move away from World AIDS Day, the Trump administration’s 2026 budget proposes to eliminate the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s division focused on HIV prevention, among other cuts.
The Maine Medical Association and other state health organizations put out a joint statement Monday to oppose the federal government’s silence, which Jim Jarvis, the association’s president, says “comes at exactly the wrong time.”
William Hurley, executive director for Needlepoint Sanctuary, said local and state governments are also responsible for the policies that have given rise to homelessness, drug use and other factors contributing to Maine’s outbreak. The organization resumed its syringe program in October after the city of Bangor had limited its services due to zoning rules.
Drew said increasing syringe services and getting on PrEP is the best way for community members to protect themselves.
“HIV is going rampant right now,” Drew said. “Better be safe than sorry, kind of thing.”
