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From: aids@squid.cs.ucla.edu (Support Account for SCI.MED.AIDS)
Newsgroups: sci.med.aids
Subject: Re: Aids Transmission
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Date: 7 Feb 90 14:22:21 GMT
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>   The PBS series Aids Quarterly (this past weekend) had a story on
>how federal AIDS education money is spent.  One segment, on Florida,
>pointed out that even in Miami, the health department [which gets the
>money from the feds] gives almost nothing to community education programs.
>If almost no money is used in the state's center of infection, imagine
>how little is spent in Jacksonville where George lives !!!
>    I didn't quite understand the Colorado section on education funding,
>but I believe they spent more money on contact tracing to find 50 contacts
>than they did on all education aspects.. I'll have to watch the rerun
>to clear this one up.

Dave, I watched that documentary and have a vivid memory of what was said since
it angered me so much:

In Florida about $2.2million is allocated to South Fla. H.R.S. who stated on
the program that their finest project was a booth at a Mexican/American
festival and a float in a parade. The intimation was that there were no funds
left after covering HRS salaries. I choke on this when Dade County is
considering cutting in half the budget allotment for" Meals on Wheels" who give
7 meals a week in the form of 7 frozen dinners to 300 people who would
otherwise die of malnutrition rather than AIDS.

North Carolina (Jesse Helms) does not give one dime to Gay Outreach or
educational programs. Apparently blacks represent 48% of HIV cases there. They
have one individual who apparently had total funding of $10,500 to go around
and teach about AIDS.

In Colorado not one dime goes to community outreach and education programs. All
of the money goes towards testing and tracing. They spent $450,000 and were
able to trace 52 people. That's 9 grand each- more than enough to treat 70
people with AZT, Aerosol Pentamidine and Acyclovir for a YEAR.

I must now agree with some posters here that have said the Federal Government
is spending too much money on AIDS. If the AIDS Quarterly report is
representative of how the Federal Funds are being spent by the states, we are
throwing money down the drain and it should be stopped.

As a PWA I wonder whether the other Federal Agencies such as the CDC, FDA or
NIHC are doing any better. Needless to say I am now very skeptical as well as
discouraged.

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