Dear Colleagues,
As the agenda develops, we will share resources and news that will help prepare you for the Spotlight: State Budget Cuts discussion in Oakland.
For now, please find a few key stats regarding both the current funding environment and the local epidemic in Oakland.
- State budget cuts to HIV/AIDS programs topped $170 Million nationwide in 2009, (42% more than total private philanthropic giving to the domestic epidemic in 2008).
- 10 States now have AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) waiting lists and 10 have imposed severe restrictions. Six additional states are on the verge of restrictions and waiting lists.
- State budget cuts also severely affect local Department of Health (DOH) capacity and AIDS-related services for years to come with a loss of lab technicians, public health nurses and epidemiologists in particular.
- As much as 50% of DOH staff are eligible for retirement over the next five years, and in some cases, as many as 75% of senior managers are nearing retirement.
- 2010 cuts are likely to make the situation even worse!
Source: NASTAD
- The Oakland/Greater Bay Area offers the opportunity for a multidimensional case study about the relationship between city, county, and state funding, as well as the role of private and corporate funders.
- As with the nation as a whole, HIV/AIDS disproportionately affects African-Americans in Alameda County (including Oakland): although non-Hispanic blacks made up 12% of the population, they represented nearly one-half of Alameda County’s cumulative HIV/AIDS cases by the end of 2008.
- Over one-third of the population of the Oakland area lives at 300% of the federal poverty level or below, and nearly 15% lacks health insurance of any kind, including Medicaid.
- Oakland has seen an uptick in late testers – cases that progress to AIDS within a year of their HIV diagnosis.