I thought I would hit the roof when the president talked about the Ryan White CARE Act and how he would give money to faith-based organizations to do testing for HIV. Do you think the results could ever be kept confidential if a person had a positive test? Who do think would be tested in front of their congregation? Not many. Bush would be taking money away from well-established community organization that do HIV testing and give out clean needles like BEHIV that serve Evanston and the north side of Chicago. He would also take money away from public health clinics like those run by not profits like Howard Brown and Heartland Alliance in Chicago.
A Ryan White-funded program at Heartland Alliance provides massage and acupuncture for people with HIV/AIDS. This program has been put in the “other” category at the federal Health Resources Service Agency, so that means it will be cut soon. Meanwhile, they are increasing Ryan White funds for Republican rural areas at the expense of urban areas that have a higher rate of disease.
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