R.I. receives $3.4M for HIV/AIDS testing, prevention programs

U.S. SEN. JACK F. REED has announced that the state Executive Office of Health & Human Service will receive approximately $3.4 million in federal funding to enhance HIV testing and prevention programs. / PBN FILE PHOTO
U.S. SEN. JACK F. REED has announced that the state Executive Office of Health & Human Service will receive approximately $3.4 million in federal funding to enhance HIV testing and prevention programs. / PBN FILE PHOTO

PROVIDENCE – More than $3.4 million in federal funding to enhance HIV testing and prevention programs has been awarded to the R.I. Executive Office of Health & Human Services, U.S. Sen. Jack F. Reed announced recently.
The funds are from the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program.
“This federal funding will help Rhode Islanders living with HIV and AIDS get access to life-saving care. We have come a long way in the fight against HIV/AIDS and we still have further to go. Through better education, outreach and prevention initiatives, we can ensure people who are at risk are tested, diagnosed and connected to the right care and needed treatments,” Reed said. “We want to reach patients who may not otherwise get help and ensure that community-based centers and clinics can better assist them, whether it’s with screening or getting them the right types of medicine and treatment.”
The Ryan White CARE Act was first enacted in 1990. It was reauthorized in 2009 with Reed’s help.
Thanks to federal-local partnerships established by law, the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program works with cities, states and local community-based organizations to provide services to an estimated 536,000 people nationwide each year who do not have sufficient health care coverage or financial resources to cope with the HIV disease.
The federal funding is targeted to encourage outreach and testing. It requires that 75 percent of funding be spent on medical services such as medications, outpatient and ambulatory medical services, mental health services and home health care.

The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that there were 3,158 people in Rhode Island living with AIDS through 2013, as well as an additional 2,083 people living with HIV in the state.

Last year, the R.I. Department of Health reported 87 new diagnoses of HIV infection through October of 2014, compared with 74 the previous year.

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