- HIV/AIDS prevention efforts in the Nashville area are not expected to be affected by the state’s decision to reject certain CDC prevention grants
- State officials have declined to comment publicly on their decision to reject CDC grants, other than to say it is in the state’s “best interest” to assume financial responsibility for prevention.
- Current CDC grants for HIV/AIDS prevention ends May 31. The state has promised to fill the gaps.
A Health Department decision to reject some federal HIV prevention grants likely won’t affect city-related programs in Nashville or Davidson County, a spokesman for Nashville’s special public health agency said Thursday. .
The Metro Nashville Department of Public Health receives such federal funding through the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, which is not expected to be affected by the state’s decision, Metro Health Department spokesman Matthew Peters said.
“The more I look at it, it looks like the effect is going to be more pronounced outside of metro areas. It looks like metro health departments are going to be largely unaffected by this,” Peters said. “It looks like most of this will probably take effect in places that aren’t metro health departments.”
In a story reported for the first time of the Trade Appeal, the state notified agencies working on HIV prevention that the state would stop accepting certain federal grants for this purpose after they expire on May 31.
“The state has determined that it is in the best interest of Tennesseans for the state to assume direct financial and management responsibility for these services,” the Jan. 17 letter said. “The state will provide support equal to federal funding.”
Gov. Bill Lee’s office referred all questions about the matter to the state Department of Health. The department’s newly appointed commissioner, Ralph Alvarado, declined to comment through a spokesman.
Health Department spokesman Bill Christian also declined to answer questions about the decision, instead responding via email that: “The letter speaks for itself in communicating: ‘…it is in the best interest of Tennesseans to the state to assume direct financial and managerial responsibility for these services.‘”
All also declined to confirm the dollar amount of taxes at play.
The Commercial Appeal reported that the grants are provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to the state, CDC funds: “HIV counseling, testing and referral, HIV partner counseling and referral services, HIV health education and risk reduction programs, HIV prevention for positive individuals, public information programs, a toll-free hotline for HIV/STD, capacity building programs and a quality. assurance and evaluation component.”
Frank Gluck is the health care reporter for The Tennessean. He can be reached at fgluck@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter at @FrankGluck.
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