Illinois HIV Funding: Advocates Protest Lawmakers' 'Gutting' Of State Programs

Illinois HIV Funding: Advocates Protest Lawmakers' 'Gutting' Of State Programs
Posted: 06/16/2012 5:11 pm Updated: 06/16/2012 5:11 pm

Funding cuts to community-based HIV prevention, harm-reduction and housing programs approved last month by Illinois state lawmakers have "set back the progress against AIDS by a decade" in the state, according to some health advocates.

The state's new budget, effective July 1, cut funding for HIV/AIDS programs statewide by 42 percent, according to Medill Reports. The cuts total $3.3 million of the state's $29.6 billion state budget.

In a statement issued earlier this month, AIDS Foundation of Chicago president and CEO David Ernesto Munar said the cuts will lead to new HIV infections in the state and, as a result, lead to an increase in lifetime medical costs for newly infected individuals that could ultimately place a larger financial burden on the state.

"Just when we are starting to see new HIV cases decline, Illinois has turned its back on people with HIV and people at risk of HIV," Munar said. "HIV funding cuts are a bad deal for the taxpayers of Illinois and a tragedy for people who will have to live with a still-deadly infectious disease that could have been prevented."

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/16/illinois-hiv-funding-advo_n_1602818.html