Where Will the Government’s HIV/AIDS Funding End Up?
October 19th, 2009 at 9:00 am Posted by The Dean
Recently, there’s been some debate concerning the results of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds given to many companies on Wall Street and, according to the news, this is not the only type of government funding that has come into question. While many in the medical and scientific communities were excited to learn about President Obama’s decision to award $5 billion to HIV/AIDS research, these seems to be a lot of speculation on how the money will be used.
Last month, the United States Army, Thai government and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) told the world about their $105 million AIDS trial in Thailand. Ever since the trials results were released, there’s been a lot of skepticism followed by what little hope the announcement of 31% effectiveness brought to the table. Despite the underlying controversy of the accuracy of these trial results and the effectiveness of the vaccines used in the trial, the NIH is expected to “receive much of the grant money.”
The Dean believes this is one of the reasons that funding for HIV/AIDS research and treatment is under fire in the nation’s capital, where the country’s highest rate of infection has called to attention the necessity of such funding. But The Washington Post suggests that millions of dollars worth of funding is not going towards its intended purpose. For example, $400,000 was paid to a nonprofit organization for a promised job training center that was never opened and more than $500,000 went to a supposed AIDS nonprofit group but no evidence of their operations have proved beneficial and the money was never returned.
The Washington Post also claims that the Health Department’s HIV/AIDS Administration was awarded more than $25 million between 2004 and 2008. Since then, many of these groups no longer exist or provide AIDS-related services to the infected population.
Perhaps more startling than the millions in missing HIV/AIDS funds is the fact that more than 15,000 people are infected with HIV/AIDS in D.C.—which is 3% of the population older than 12. The article also suggests that D.C.’s AIDS rate is higher than some of the countries in Western Africa, where HIV/AIDS has been and continues to be a huge problem.
The HIV/AIDS Administration is said to receive $100 million a year in government funding and only 33% of the money is believed to actually go to groups who need the financial support. The Dean is outraged that funding set aside to help the treatment and prevention of a disease which infects 7,400 new people everyday and has claimed the lives of 25 million to date is not being better regulated.
If the Recovery Act and the Obama Adminstration do indeed provide $5 billion in funding for HIV/AIDS research, The Dean suggests that this funding be accounted for and given to groups and companies dedicated to bringing a long-term solution to this growing world concern.
Perhaps the AIDS Vaccine Conference in Paris this week will bring more truths to the surface and deserving groups will receive the proper funding necessary to continue working towards a conclusion to the HIV/AIDS dilemma.
