Busloads of gay and lesbian protesters from across California are expected to converge on the state Capitol today to protest more than $80 million in proposed budget cuts to AIDS and HIV programs, a reduction that would wipe out state funding of most prevention, education and surveillance programs that help fight and track the disease.
The cuts affect such things as HIV testing, types of drugs available to the poor and prevention programs that target those most at risk of contracting the HIV virus.
"California has been a leader in AIDS care, and it's definitely slipping out of that role," said Michael Weinstein, president of Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation. "There's a grave concern from a public health point of view that capping these programs is going to result in the spread of the disease and much greater expenses down the road."
The $80.1 million in proposed cuts represent an elimination or severe reduction of AIDS-related programs and shifts the bulk of the financing to the federal government and local jurisdictions, even as between 5,000 and 7,000 new cases are identified statewide each year.
Among the proposed cuts:
* Education, prevention, counseling and testing programs would lose all state funding. Only $8.9 million would remain in federal funding, compared with $41.8 million budgeted this year.
* Early intervention programs, including medical care and counseling services, would lose all state funding, roughly $13.78 million. They would retain $12.4 million in federal funding.
* The $8-million therapeutic monitoring program would be eliminated, making it difficult for HIV patients to determine whether their prescribed medications are working.
* The AIDS Drug Assistance Program that provides medicine to the poor would take a $12-million hit, although the program would largely be saved. HIV patients would be asked to share costs, and obtaining certain drugs could become more difficult.
Advocates of AIDS and HIV programs say that now more than ever, education and prevention are necessary. Last year, the Centers for Disease Control said it had underestimated by 40% the number of Americans infected by HIV each year.
At the same time, the number of Americans naming HIV/AIDS as the most urgent health problem facing the nation has dropped from 44% in 1995 to 6%, according to a recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
