Wyoming Legislature To Help Fund Health Department’s HIV/AIDS/Hepatitis Program Following Financial Crisis
In order to prevent another financial crisis for the Wyoming Department of Health's HIV/AIDS Care and AIDS Drug Assistance Program, the Wyoming Legislature for the first time has agreed to fund the health department's HIV/AIDS/Hepatitis Program, the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle reports (Fashek, Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, 3/29). The HIV/AIDS Care and ADAP Program, which is part of the health department's HIV/AIDS/Hepatitis Program and is funded by the same $340,000 annual HHS grant, in 2002 ran out of funding that was supposed to last through March 2003 (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 11/22/02). The "financial crisis ... got the attention of legislators," who have allocated $125,000 a year to the state's HIV/AIDS program, the Tribune-Eagle reports. The funding covers 26% of the program's total budget, according to the Tribune-Eagle. As a result of the state funding, this is the first year that the state has not had to limit enrollment in its HIV/AIDS programs (Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, 3/29). Program coordinators on April 1 plan to expand existing services at the Community Health Center of Central Wyoming and next year plan to provide services in Lander, Riverton, Gillette, Jackson and possibly Rock Springs. In addition, the state health department and other groups next week are scheduled to meet in Cheyenne to hold the first statewide conference on the connection between drug use, AIDS and hepatitis, among other issues (AP/Billings Gazette, 3/30).
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