Concord Monitor Publishes Articles Examining HIV/AIDS in New Hampshire
The Concord Monitor recently published two articles examining the HIV/AIDS epidemic in New Hampshire. Summaries of the stories appear below.
- "Days filled with medication, worry: Many fear more HIV/AIDS drug cuts": New Hampshire's AIDS Drug Assistance Program -- which provides medications to low-income, uninsured and underinsured HIV-positive residents -- last year for the first time restricted the types of drugs covered by the program, the Monitor reports. Although antiretroviral drugs are still covered under the program, other drugs that treat or prevent medication side effects or other AIDS-related diseases are no longer covered. In addition, the state now requires patients to meet medical criteria as well as income limits to qualify for ADAP. Of the nearly 1,600 HIV-positive people who live in New Hampshire, 331 receive ADAP services (Heckman, Concord Monitor, 4/25).
- "Living with AIDS: In New Hampshire, longer life but economic hardship": Unlike most states, New Hampshire uses only federal money and private donations to fund HIV/AIDS services to state residents, which has resulted in "a tenuous web of volunteers, social workers and doctors trying to prevent the disease's spread and provide care to those infected," the Monitor reports. Physicians, HIV/AIDS case workers and support groups are "scattered" across the state, and many residents "cling" to the stigma surrounding the disease, according to the Monitor. The state's reliance on federal funding has been made more difficult as that funding source "diminishes," the Monitor reports (Heckman, Concord Monitor, 4/24).