HHS Awards $33.9 Million for HIV/AIDS and Substance Abuse Services in Minority Communities
HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson yesterday announced 72 grants totaling $33.9 million to provide substance abuse treatment and HIV/AIDS services to African-American, Hispanic and other minority communities that have been affected by substance abuse and HIV/AIDS. The awards stem from a congressional directive that ordered the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to improve the quality and extent of substance abuse treatment services for "high-risk communities of color" with high rates of HIV/AIDS and acute substance abuse problems. Around $12 million will go to fund 26 grants in metropolitan areas previously not served by SAMHSA's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment TCE/HIV, or HIV Outreach programs. The remaining $21.8 million will fund 46 grants in areas with high rates of HIV/AIDS. "[W]e know that minority communities are disproportionately suffering from the interrelationship between injection drug use and HIV. If we can reach drug users early enough, we may be able to prevent the scourge of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases that are running rampant in many communities of color," SAMHSA Administrator Charles Curie said (SAMHSA release, 10/3).
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