For Immediate Release
Media Contact:
Justin Burke - 213.201.1525
AIDS PROJECT LOS ANGELES CALLS
FOR COUNTY REFORMS AS FEDS CUT
LOCAL HIV/AIDS FUNDING
Los Angeles, Calif., March 14, 2006 – AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) today called for a reduction in County administrative spending on HIV/AIDS programs, and greater budget transparency, in light of a $1.9 million cut to the County’s 2006 Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act funding and a $400,000 reduction in federal HIV/AIDS prevention funds.
The County Office of AIDS Programs and Policy (OAPP) announced the cuts last Thursday at a meeting of the Los Angeles Commission on HIV. CARE Act funds were cut by 5.2 percent to $34.9 million. L.A.'s 2006 HIV prevention award from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was also reduced by 2.9 percent to $12.8 million
“Los Angeles is losing ground in the fight against AIDS,” said APLA Executive Director Craig E. Thompson. “We’ve lost 12 percent of our CARE Act funding since 2003. The only growth we’ve seen is in demand for services, the cost of providing care and the County bureaucracy.”
“From budget charts, it appears that OAPP now spends over 20 percent of the County’s AIDS budget internally, but the allocation process is far from transparent,” Thompson added.
The success of HIV/AIDS treatments in keeping people alive means that the number of people living with AIDS goes up by 24,000 each year. More people than ever – over 1.1 million – are now living with the disease in the United States, with more than 57,000 in Los Angeles County. Added to this growth is the high rate of medical inflation, which has often been in the double digits over the past several years.
“These cuts threaten vital services, including primary medical and oral healthcare, food, nutrition, and transportation,” Thompson said. “We were pleased to see the Commission on HIV, as well as the Board of Supervisors, both calling for greater efficiency and transparency at OAPP. We can no longer afford business as usual.”
Last week’s cuts were not entirely unexpected.
They are in part the result of rescissions to all federal non-defense discretionary
spending. CARE Act funding to other cities was also cut, but the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services has yet to release a complete list of the
awards.
CARE Act funding provides medical and dental care, as well as vital services
such as food, transportation and mental health counseling for low income
people living with HIV/AIDS. The CARE Act is the largest dedicated
source of federal funding for HIV/AIDS.
“We won’t know how political these cuts are until we see all the national data,” Thompson said. “But federal funding is not going up any time soon, and state funding is basically flat. OAPP needs to act now to save funding for services, and get their own expenses in line with reduced federal grants.”
AIDS Project Los Angeles, one of the largest non-profit AIDS service organizations in the United States, provides bilingual direct services, prevention education and leadership on HIV/AIDS-related policy and legislation. Founded by four friends in 1982, APLA is a community-based, volunteer-supported organization with local, national and global reach. For more information, visit www.apla.org.
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