AIDS FUNDS: State’s Share Goes to Research, Outpatient Programs
California's share of the AIDS-related funding included in the new federal budget will boost the state's emergency assistance, drug treatment and basic research programs, the Los Angeles Times reports. Under the budget recently signed by President Clinton, funding for the Ryan White Care Act increased by 13%, to $1.59 billion nationwide, and federal funding allocated to AIDS research is expected to top $2 billion. According to University of California-San Francisco's AIDS Policy Research Center, last year California received 14%-24% of key portions of the Ryan White funds and about 20% of the dollars spent on research. The state should enjoy similar amounts this year and plans to channel most of the research funds to the University of California-Los Angeles, University of Southern California, University of California-San Diego, Stanford University and University of California-San Francisco. The Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation was singled out for federal funding for the third year, foundation President Michael Weinstein said. Democratic lawmakers Rep. David Obey (D-WI) and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) helped add a $2 million appropriation to the budget for the foundation, which will allow the group to expand its residential and outpatient treatment program. The Los Angeles Times reports that the "funding is not surprising," as 15,000 people in Los Angeles County have AIDS, the second-highest total in the U.S. behind New York City. Statewide, according to the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, more than 44,000 Californians have AIDS, which amounts to 15% of the U.S. total of 288,000. "We do well on AIDS funding, and it's for an unfortunate reason -- because we have a relatively high proportion of the nation's AIDS needs," said Tim Ransdell, executive director of the California Institute for Federal Policy Research (Anderson, Los Angeles Times, 12/5).
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