For immediate release:
September 27, 2007 |
Contact:
National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB
Prevention
(404) 639-8895 |
CDC Awards $35 Million to Support HIV Testing and
Increase Early Diagnosis of HIV among African Americans
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has
awarded $35 million in funding to state and local health departments to
increase HIV testing opportunities among populations disproportionately
affected by HIV, primarily African Americans. Twenty-three states and
major metropolitan areas will receive awards ranging from $690,000 to
$5.4 million.
“This program seeks to test more than 1 million people
with the primary goal of increasing early HIV diagnosis among African
Americans,” said Kevin Fenton, M.D., director of CDC’s National Center
for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention. “HIV testing
provides a critical pathway to prevention and treatment services to
prolong the lives of those infected and help stop the spread of HIV in
the hardest hit communities across the United States.”
As part of CDC’s efforts to accelerate progress in
reducing HIV among African Americans, the program is being targeted to
areas of the nation in which African Americans have been most severely
impacted. African Americans account for approximately half of the more
than 1 million Americans currently estimated to be living with HIV,
while comprising 13 percent of the U.S. population.
“HIV among African Americans in our nation remains a
major public health crisis,” Dr. Fenton said. “Equipping every American
with life-saving information about whether or not they are infected can
play a major role in comprehensive efforts to reduce the toll of this
devastating disease.”
CDC estimates that a quarter of those living with HIV -
more than 250,000 Americans - do not realize they are infected. The
testing effort is intended to identify undiagnosed individuals,
especially among those populations bearing a disproportionate burden of
HIV disease.
“We estimate this program alone could identify nearly
20,000 people who are unaware that they are infected, allowing them to
seek care for their own health and take steps to protect their
partners,” Dr. Fenton said.
Through this program HIV tests will be available
primarily in clinical settings, such as emergency departments, community
health centers, STD clinics, and correctional health facilities. While
about 10 percent of the tests will be administered in non-clinical
settings, the main focus of the program will be to implement routine,
voluntary HIV testing in health care settings, where opportunities to
screen patients for HIV are often missed.
The awards will help put into practice CDC’s 2006
Revised Recommendations for HIV Testing of Adults, Adolescents, and
Pregnant Women in Health-Care Settings. Funds will be used to support
HIV testing and related activities including linkage to care, partner
counseling and referral services, and the purchase of HIV tests.
A particular focus for the program will be integrating
HIV testing activities with screening and prevention activities for
other infections, such as viral hepatitis, sexually transmitted diseases
and tuberculosis. Because populations disproportionately affected by HIV
are also disproportionately affected by these infections, integrating
these services can significantly improve health.
Eligibility and funding amounts were based upon the
percentage of AIDS cases among African Americans in each jurisdiction.
The states receiving funding are: California, Connecticut, Florida,
Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New
Jersey, New York State, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
The cities receiving funding are Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, and New
York City.
The $35 million is part of a new $45 million program to
expand access to HIV testing. The remaining $10 million will support a
range of CDC programs to provide needed training to health care
providers, mobilize communities to encourage HIV testing among African
Americans, and reach both providers and those at risk with information
on the importance of testing.
For more information on HIV prevention, visit
www.cdc.gov/hiv.
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
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