Minority HIV/AIDS Program Expanded

 WASHINGTON - HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has announced two grants totaling more than $3.5 million to reach beyond the Ryan White Program, the federally funded program that provides care and treatment to about half a million Americans living with HIV/AIDS, and provide expanded care and treatment for minority patients that have been impacted by the disease.

The first three-year grant, funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), will provide $2.975 million to HealthHIV, based in Washington, DC, to improve and enhance the organizational capacity of community health centers to provide culturally competent, compassionate, high-quality, and life sustaining HIV care and treatment to racial and ethnic minorities living with or affected by HIV/AIDS.  The grant will support a new AIDS Education and Training Center (AETC) National Center for Expansion of HIV CARE in Minority Communities.

Another $550,000 three-year grant is being awarded to Howard University to establish the AETC National Multicultural Center to increase cross-cultural awareness and competency and to provide training and technical assistance for health care professionals and facilities serving the needs of people living with HIV/AIDS.

The two new grants will bring to five the total number of national centers supported by the AETC program. The three others are the AETC National Resource Center, the National HIV/AIDS' Clinicians' Consultation Center and the AETC National Evaluation Center.

“These grants will support the President’s National HIV/AIDS Strategy  by expanding capacity at the community level, facilitating linkages to care and increasing the available providers to serve people living with HIV,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

HRSA Administrator Mary Wakefield said: “Expansion of health center services will increase HIV screening and help reach and provide care for the estimated 220,000 people nationwide who are unaware that they’ve been exposed to the virus.”

Awards

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), part of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency for improving access to health care services for people who are uninsured, isolated, or medically vulnerable.