GOVERNOR’S BUDGET WOULD MAKE
DANGEROUS CUTS TO AIDS PROGRAM
Governor McCrory’s budget proposal would cut $8 million from
the state’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program. The program provides medications to
qualified North Carolinians living with HIV who cannot otherwise afford them.
"Governor McCrory’s choice to propose $8 million in cuts
to this critical public health program is shortsighted and dangerous,"
said Lisa Hazirjian, executive director of the North Carolina AIDS Action
Network.
“Ensuring that everyone living with HIV in North Carolina has
access to the medications they need saves lives and lowers the rates of new
infections.”
"The Governor should not abdicate his responsibility for
the health of the people of this state," Hazirjian said.
Treatment allows people living with HIV to live relatively
healthy lives. A 2011 UNC study showed that treatment can lower transmission
rates by up to 96 percent.
About 35,000 North Carolinians are living with HIV. Almost
6,500 receive medications through the state’s HIV medication programs.
One
quarter of new HIV infections in North Carolina are among women, something that
advocate Alicia Diggs is encouraging Greensboro residents to talk about on
March 10, National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.
Diggs,
a mother who is completing a master’s degree in public health education, speaks
widely about her experiences living with HIV. She says she’s motivated by the
need for education, testing and support for women living with HIV or at risk of
acquiring the virus.
“Women
and girls need to be encouraged, especially those who have a history of falling
down and getting back up,” Diggs said. “We
need to empower them so that they can say ‘I am awesome. I can do this.’ So
that they can make the right decision and know that they are loved.”
Diggs
is also the founder and director of I Will Live, which connects survivors of
chronic illness, abuse, suicide, violence, and other traumas.
She
says the decision to speak up about her status wasn’t easy.
“In
the beginning, I was terrified,” she said. “You don’t know what people are
going to say. But there’s a time in your life when you get tired of being
scared. You hold your breath, and then you let go. And you find people who
support you.
The
theme for National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is “Share knowledge.
Take action.” That’s what Diggs challenges others to join her in doing. “Though
you may speak to one person or a thousand people, you can make a difference,”
she says.
The
HIV epidemic in North Carolina hits some communities especially hard.
Black
women accounted for 85 percent of all HIV cases diagnosed among women in North
Carolina in 2010, making them 17 times more likely to acquire the virus than
white women. Latino women were five times more likely to acquire the virus than
white women.
Claire
Hermann, Communications Coordinator at the North Carolina AIDS Action Network, says
these inequalities can be addressed. “HIV is a justice issue,” she said.
“Research
and medicine have progressed to the point that we can reduce transmission rates
dramatically and allow people living with HIV to lead relatively healthy lives.”
“What
we need now are policies that protect the rights of women and increase
equitable access to information, testing, healthcare, and support.”
Diggs
says she’ll keep speaking out. “It’s about saving lives,” she said. “We’re
doing that.”
###
Related: North Carolina advocate Stephanie Brown joins Alicia Keys in spreading awareness on National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.
The North Carolina Senate passed a bill this week that will prevent overdose deaths in North Carolina. This is great news. Drug users living with HIV are 74% more likely to die of a drug overdose.
Our partners at the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition played a crucial role in advocating for the bill. Here's their summary of what it will do if it becomes law.
1.) Permits a practitioner acting in good faith and exercising reasonable care to prescribe, dispense or distribute, directly or by standing order, an opioid antagonist (Naloxone/Narcan) to “a person at risk of experiencing an opiate-related overdose or a family member, friend, or other person in a position to assist a person at risk of experiencing an opiate-related overdose.”
2.) Permits a person who received an opioid antagonist (Naloxone/Narcan) under the terms outlined above to administer that antagonist to another person if “the person has a good faith belief that the other person is experiencing a drug-related overdose and the person exercises reasonable care in administering the drug to the other person.”
3.) Provides immunity from civil and criminal liability for the practitioner and administrator outlined above.
4.)911 Good Samaritan Provision....Provides limited protection from prosecution for any person who seeks medical assistance in good faith for a person experiencing a drug-related overdose and/or any person who experiences a drug-related overdose and is in need of medical assistance if the evidence for the prosecution was obtained as a result of the seeking of medical assistance.
The bill passed 50 - 0, and now goes on to the House of Representatives.
