Santa Clara County May Eliminate HIV/AIDS Program as Part of Plan to Reduce County Heath Department Budget

HIV/AIDS advocates at a community hearing on Thursday raised concerns about a Santa Clara County proposal to eliminate the county HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Program as part of a "hastily assembled plan" to reduce the county health department budget by $2.3 million, the San Jose Mercury News reports. County Chief Executive Pete Kutras made the proposal to eliminate the program, which provides HIV/AIDS tests, treatment and social services for patients though a combination of local, state and federal funds to help reduce the $90 million health department budget. Under the proposal, some of the services provided by the program would shift to a different county department responsible for tuberculosis, disease control and HIV/AIDS.

Kevin Hutchcroft, director of the program, said, "This has unfolded very quickly," adding, "These are very serious Draconian cuts. In the fourth-largest county in California, to not have a designated HIV/AIDS office strikes me as just not acceptable."

Clark Williams, a consultant for community HIV/AIDS service providers, said that because the proposal likely would eliminate the position held by Hutchcroft, the county would no longer have "a public face" on HIV/AIDS, which "sends a very scary message that HIV is no longer a concern." He said, "That could be devastating and result in new infections."

A spokesperson for the federal Health Resources and Services Administration, which provides $3.4 million to the county in HIV/AIDS grants each year, said that the proposal to eliminate the program likely would not affect the grants.

However, community HIV/AIDS workers said that because counties have to compete for such grants, they require an HIV/AIDS "czar" to help negotiate with the federal government and obtain funds for prevention, treatment and tests, according to the Mercury News. Bob Sillen, executive director of the county health and hospital system, said that the proposal to eliminate the program is only "preliminary" and that other county services could face larger budget reductions. County officials also said that the proposal might not take effect until 2006, according to the Mercury News (Feder Ostrov, San Jose Mercury News, 8/7).