Copyright 1999 The Denver Post Corporation
The
Denver Post
February 20, 1999 Saturday 2D EDITION
SECTION: DENVER & THE WEST; Pg. B-03
LENGTH: 614 words
HEADLINE:
Less AIDS money reaching IV drug users
BYLINE: By Ann
Schrader, Denver Post Medical/Science Writer
BODY:
The number of Coloradans infected with HIV through intravenous drug use has
climbed to nearly one in three cases, while a local committee has cut federal
money for their treatment.
"I find that appalling," said Dr. Robert
Booth, an associate psychiatry professor at the University of Colorado Health
Sciences Center. Booth spoke Friday at the 14th annual Rocky Mountain Regional
Conference on HIV Disease.
Since 1988, the percentage of Colorado AIDS
cases attributed to drug use has risen from 17 percent to 27 percent. That
includes not only people infected through active intravenous drug use, but their
sex partners and children who contracted the human immunodeficiency virus.
The federal government provides money for HIV education and treatment
through the Ryan White Care Act. In 1994, those infected
through IV drug use received 4.7 percent of Denver's $ 4.07 million in Ryan
White money. By 1998, the percentage had dropped to 3.1 percent - or $ 126,808.
Denver accounts for the majority of the state's Ryan White spending.
Booth presented three CU studies showing that education and treatment of
IV drug users reduces the likelihood that they will spread HIV.
"Treatment prolongs the lives of intravenous drug users, and being
treated means they infect fewer people," Booth said.
The problem isn't
with funds from the Ryan White Care Act of 1990 allotted to
Denver, Booth said. It's in how the local Resources Planning Council allocates
the money.
A culture clash, created by the changing face of AIDS,
appears to be partly responsible. Federal money also is getting tighter, with
Denver's share of the nation's Ryan White money being reduced by 4 percent next
year.
The Denver council, which decides how the money is to be
allocated, is largely composed of people with AIDS. Agencies that provide
services to HIV-positive people get one council vote each, and every person with
AIDS who attends gets one vote.
Booth said most of the HIV-positive
council members are gay men who "are more responsible, more articulate and lobby
for drug reimbursement, primary care and dental care."
The gay community
does a good job of getting the word out that the council is about to prioritize
Ryan White allocations and its members show up to vote, he added.
"There's no way we can get our people there, especially since it
requires being at four meetings over a month," Booth said. "They say, 'Yeah,
man, I'll be there,' but they're not there. They're loaded, they don't answer
the door."
A spokesman for the Colorado AIDS Project, which serves a
range of HIV-infected people, said the federal government has focused on primary
medical care and costly drugs to control HIV. That's taking most of the money,
he said.
"That's wonderful, except they have this whole group (of IV
drug users), a population of folks with a myriad of challenges they have to
address before they can access care (for HIV)," said Eduardo Ortega of the AIDS
project. Cuts in the federal funds mean "there's less for case management, less
for mental health, less for substance abuse - the very things that IV drug users
need to address."
Project Safe, a CU outreach/intervention program for
Denver IV drug users, asked for enough money to double its number of case
managers from one to two. The case manager assists about 35 HIV positive drug
users in finding housing and taking them to mental and physical health
screenings.
The council only funded enough for a half-time manager. "We
can't do it on a part-time basis," Booth said. "So at the end of the month,
we're closing the doors on the case management service."
Denver Post
staff writer Peter G. Chronis contributed to this report.
LOAD-DATE: February 22, 1999 
