Westmoreland Times (Westmoreland County, Pa.) (01.05.12) -
CDC is awarding $339 million in HIV prevention funds to health
departments in all 50 states, eight cities, the District of
Columbia, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and the six
Pacific Island jurisdictions. The awards, for the first year
of a five-year funding cycle, represent a new direction for
CDC HIV funding designed to achieve a higher level of impact
for every dollar spent.
"With 50,000 new HIV infections every year and a tough
economic environment, the need to do more with existing
resources is greater than ever," said Dr. Kevin Fenton,
director of CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral
Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention. "This new approach to
prevention funding is designed to focus on the places where
needs are most urgent and on the programs that will have the
most far-reaching impact. It will help us achieve the
ambitious goals of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy with the
efficacy and urgency the HIV epidemic demands."
Allocations to individual health departments are based on a
formula that better matches resources to the number of people
living with HIV in that jurisdiction. An additional $20
million will be competitively awarded by this March to
departments implementing innovative HIV prevention
demonstration projects.
"State and local health departments are the backbone of the
nation's HIV prevention efforts. This latest round of funding
will help them lead the nation to slow, and ultimately end,
the HIV epidemic in the United States - a public health
imperative that could finally be achieved," said Dr. Jonathan
Mermin, director of CDC's Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention.