Hepatitis B Foundation President “deeply alarmed” about drastic reductions in U.S. public health and research programs
Doylestown, Pa., April 8, 2025 – Hepatitis B Foundation President Chari A. Cohen, DrPH, MPH, today released the following statement.
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At the Hepatitis B Foundation, we are deeply alarmed by the drastic reductions in workforce and programs across the United States’ public health and scientific infrastructure. In recent weeks, we have witnessed severe federal funding cuts, freezes on life-saving research and treatment programs, reckless restructuring and downsizing within the Department of Health and Human Services, disrupted and non-transparent public health communication and the elimination of critical staff and funding. These actions will impact our work here and abroad, and profoundly impair our country’s ability to save lives and achieve the national goal of eliminating hepatitis B as a public health threat.
These cuts—both proposed and already enacted—will exacerbate health challenges for people living with chronic hepatitis B by reducing access to essential prevention, testing and treatment services. And these cuts will disproportionately harm our most vulnerable populations. We are rapidly losing the ability to conduct national viral hepatitis surveillance and to sustain community-based programs that provide life-saving care. At the same time, we are losing an entire generation of dedicated scientists, public health experts and civil servants—individuals who have devoted their lives to protecting our health. They deserve better. We all deserve better.
The current federal actions threaten to undermine the nation’s hepatitis B elimination goals by weakening critical infrastructure that bolsters testing, vaccination and treatment for a chronic, yet preventable disease—reversing decades of hard-won progress. Removing funding for our global and national health programs puts us all at risk; these changes will not make America healthier.
We recognize that hepatitis B is just one area among many affected by these sweeping and harmful actions. Given my organization’s mission, we need to emphasize that our country must not abandon the vital work and significant progress we have made—working with the federal government, state and local agencies, other nonprofits and academic partners—to save lives and prevent needless suffering due to liver cancer and chronic hepatitis B and D. We must ensure that screening doesn’t stop, that research toward a cure continues and that we remain committed to prevention through universal vaccination across the lifespan.
America needs a strong, well-funded federal scientific and public health infrastructure. Confusion, fear and poor preparedness will be the consequence of the changes that have been so rapidly imposed, putting us all at risk. We urge our nation’s leaders to act swiftly and decisively to reverse these damaging decisions. Together, we can forge a path forward that protects health and saves lives.