Barbara Lee Announces $2.5 Million in Federal Funding for HIV Research
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Katherine Jolly (510) 763-0370
Oakland, CA – Today, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) announced a $2,551,936 grant from the U.S. Department Health and Human Service (HHS) to the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency. The grant will be used to enhance access to a comprehensive, effective and cost efficient continuum of high quality, community-based care for low-income individuals and families with HIV, as well as to strengthen strategies to reach minority populations.
“Alameda County health providers are leaders in the domestic fight against HIV/AIDS and I am pleased that Alameda County Health Care Services Agency has been selected for this critical funding that will expand and improve efforts to combat HIV/AIDS in the East Bay," said Congresswoman Barbara Lee. “As Co-chair of the Congressional HIV/AIDS Caucus, I will continue to fight for resources to end the AIDS epidemic and to achieve an AIDS-Free Generation.”
The U.S. Department Health and Human Services’ HIV Emergency Relief Project Grants provide direct financial assistance to localities that have been the most severely affected by the HIV epidemic to enhance access to a continuum of high quality care. The comprehensive continuum of care includes the 13 core medical services specified in legislation and appropriate support services that assist People Living With HIV/AIDS in accessing treatment for HIV/AIDS infection that is consistent with HHS Treatment Guidelines. Comprehensive HIV/AIDS care beyond these core services may include supportive services that meet the criteria of enabling individuals and families living with HIV/AIDS to access and remain in primary medical care to improve their medical outcomes.
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Congresswoman Lee has been a leader in the fight against the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. She co-authored legislation signed into law creating the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria in 2000, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in 2003, the PEPFAR Reauthorization Act in 2008, and in 2005 legislation addressing the needs of orphans and vulnerable children affected by HIV/AIDS. She has also been a leader in the effort to establish a National AIDS Strategy, and is a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health, Human Services & Education with jurisdiction over all domestic HIV/AIDS funding. She is the only United States representative on United Nations Development Programme’s Global Commission on HIV and the Law and was the original sponsor of legislation that lead to the repeal of the Immigration and Travel ban that barred the entry of HIV positive individuals. The repeal allowed the International AIDS conference to take place in July 2012 in Washington, D.C., which was held in the U.S. after 20 years.