PROVIDENCE, RI – In an effort to help reduce new Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infections, increase access to care, and improve health outcomes for people living with HIV/AIDS, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) today announced over $3.4 million for targeted public health programs in Rhode Island through the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program.  The Rhode Island Executive Office of Health & Human Services will use the $3,442,107 in federal funding, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to enhance HIV testing and prevention programs and related primary care services.

“I am proud to support 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,” said Reed, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.  “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 and was reauthorized most recently in 2009 with Reed’s help.  Thanks to federal-local partnerships established by the 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 and requires that 75% of funding be spent on "core medical services," which include things like medications, outpatient and ambulatory medical services, mental health services, and home health care.

HIV is the virus that causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), which reduces a person’s ability to fight off disease.

According to HHS estimates, there are more than 1.2 million people in the United States living with an HIV infection, and almost 1 in 7 (14%) are unaware of their infection.  The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that there are 3,158 people in Rhode Island living with AIDS through 2013, and an additional 2,083 people living with HIV in the state.

Last year, the Rhode Island Department of Health reported 87 new diagnoses of HIV infection through October of 2014, up from 74 in all of the previous year.

Ryan White was diagnosed with AIDS at age 13.  He and his mother, Jeanne White Ginder, fought for his right to attend school, gaining international attention as HIV/AIDS advocates.  At the age of 18, Ryan White died on April 8, 1990, just months before Congress passed the AIDS bill that bears his name – the Ryan White CARE (Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency) Act.  The legislation has been reauthorized four times since – in 1996, 2000, 2006, and 2009 – and is now called the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program.

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