Delegate Donna Christian-Christensen said Friday that $245.4 in federal funding will be available for fiscal year 2000 "to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic in communities of color."
The amount allotted is up from $156 million last fiscal year, the first year HIV/AIDS funding was allocated specifically for minority populations, the delegate said in a release issued in her capacity as chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust.
Its purpose, she said, is "to rid minority communities of the public health emergency caused by the alarming increase of HIV/AIDS."
Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, the Congressional Black Caucus chair, said, "We applaud the President for recognizing the need to continue to assault this deadly disease in our communities."
Last year, the CBC called on Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala to declare AIDS a public emergency in the African-American community, which accounted for more than 36 percent of the nation's AIDS cases.
The funding, through the Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative, is intended to increase the capacity of minority community-based agencies to deliver quality services; ensure that resource allocation is based on current rates of new HIV infections and deaths; prevent new infections via health services and campaigns to promote behavior change; motivate more minority HIV victims to seek treatment and expand the capacity of community-based agencies to provide quality medical and support services; and increase the number of minority HIV/AIDS health-care providers, peer educators and researchers.
According to the release, the $245.4 million will be allocated as follows:
$74.1 million to the Health Resources and Services Administration
$59.8 million to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
$50 million to the Public Health and Social Service Emergency Fund
$48.8 million to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
$3 million to the National Institutes of Health
"Many segments of the legislative and health community came together to make this funding a reality," Christensen said, including "many community organizations and advocacy groups."
