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Budget Fuss: What will come of free HIV tests?
Budget Fuss: What will come of free HIV tests?
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You already know that the new state budget means lots of cash for new prisons, $5.5 million in library cuts and $1.1 million in child care cuts. But what about everything else? In our new feature Budget Fuss, we'll be looking at lesser-reported casualties (and gains — all two of them) in the state budget.
In this week's A Million Stories, I wrote about how the state budget eliminates much funding for free HIV tests, according to ACT UP Philadelphia, an HIV/AIDS activist group:
The new budget has slashed HIV prevention money statewide by $300,000 — and that's on top of $1.7 million in cuts last year. ACT UP predicts this will lead to nearly 8,000 fewer Pennsylvanians receiving HIV tests annually. Hardest-hit will be the smaller organizations geared toward minorities and the homeless. Unless outside grants come in, these groups say, they'll have to eliminate their free HIV testing programs altogether.
Without free testing, activists fear that many Philadelphians won't know they have HIV until it's too late. "We're very successful in getting first-time testers. Without that money, a lot of people are going to fall through the cracks," says Ron Sy, executive director of AIDS Services in Asian Communities. "I'm terrified."
In order to save space, the actual organizations in Philadelphia that will be hit hardest didn't make it in the paper. But it's important to say which they are, I think: Positive Effect Outreach Ministry, AIDS Services in Asian Communities (ASIAC), Gay and Lesbian Latino AIDS Initiative (GALAEI) and Maternity Care Coalition, all smaller-sized groups. The reason they'll have to eliminate their HIV testing programs, they say, is because they have to redirect the money they've got to more pressing issues, like caring for people who've already tested HIV positive.
The four groups above say that, since they've been expecting the cuts, they've tried to apply for outside grants accordingly, but have yet to find out if most of them will come through.
Maternity Care Coalition also says that it may have to eliminate one of their six Philly MOMMobiles, traveling groups of advocates that provide HIV education, among other things.
Kim Phillips, of Positive Effect Outreach Ministry, says that getting rid of HIV testing will end work that's been years in the making.
"We target the homeless community, and do a lot of work in shelters building trust," she says. "There's an 'I'd rather not know, AIDS is a death sentence' attitude, so we have to educate. We're already down to the bare bones, and these cuts might crush us. I can't even wrap my head around the fact that we won't be able to get people tested."
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