Bklyn Fights Shift In AIDS Funding As Disease Takes Devastating Toll
By Mattlee Davis As controversy lingers over the reauthorization of the Ryan White Care Act, Brooklynites still suffer from agonizing HIV/AIDS rates. “It’s going to take away from their care. A lot of people are going to suffer,” said Karen Roberts, a 49-year-old African-American Brooklyn AIDS activist, who herself has contracted the disease. Under the current proposal for the Ryan White CARE (Comprehensive AIDS Resource Emergency) Act – a federal program designed to improve the quality and availability of care for persons with HIV/AIDS – NY State will lose more than $100 million. Rick Blake – Health Policy Advisor to Rep. Ed Towns – voiced his concerns.

“We will do better if there is no reauthorization, because at least we will know that we have not lost anything,” Blake said. “There was a loss of almost $18 million for New York City. Where are we going to make that up? How are we going to help the people?” he added. He stated that the Bush administration cares more about southern states than New York and also that Republicans and Democrats are united against this bill. “We [entire NY delegation] want a paragraph in there that says under any circumstances New York will be made whole. But that’s not going to happen,” Blake stated. “It most likely will pass,” he added. Congressman Ed Towns has proposed an additional $460 million in funds for New York and other areas that may be harmed by the Ryan White Reauthorization. These funds increase every fiscal year (12 months) from 2008-2011. Towns has also proposed the inclusion of community-based organizations that serve persons infected by HIV/AIDS through intravenous drug use in the grants section of the Act. Senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton joined with senators from New Jersey, Illinois and Florida on September 22 to express their concerns regarding the reauthorization. “Without modifications to address our concerns, we stand united on behalf of New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS in objecting to this bill,” said Schumer and Clinton in a letter to Washington. But how bad is it really? What is it that has Brooklyn AIDS organizations fuming and local politicians in an uproar? According to the 2004 Brooklyn AIDS Fact Sheet from the Brooklyn AIDS Task Force (BATF), for more than ten years, Brooklyn has been ground zero for NYC’s HIV epidemic of African Americans, women and children, and has the highest number of HIV/AIDS related deaths. Brooklyn has more people who have been diagnosed with AIDS (32,937) than 45 states. It also has more children diagnosed (705) than 47 states. When Michael Bosket – Administrator of HIV services for the Lutheran Medical center – was asked what he believes is the cause for this widespread epidemic he stated that a recent study from the NYC Department of Health showed that 49 percent of residents in East Flatbush – reported to have 3,570 people living with HIV/AIDS as of 2004 -- said that they did not use condoms the last time they had sex. Also that 58 percent of Sunset Park residents – reported to have 696 people living with HIV/AIDS as of 2004 – indicated that they have never been tested. “I’ve been in the business for 16 years and witnessed the end of the first wave of AIDS where people were dropping like flies. Everyday we have new people entering the AIDS group,” Bosket said. Karen Roberts, who counsels young people on the disease, speaks of her experience with AIDS and how it has affected her life. Before, I was working with people who had it. The youngest person was a baby who was three months old. I was not thinking I was going to get it. My partner used to use condoms and sometimes we didn’t. You think when you’ve been with someone a long time you wouldn’t need a condom. But you never know who they are sleeping around with.” Roberts, who was diagnosed at the end of 1998, tells of the mysterious fever she had gotten after having a hysterectomy performed on her. “The doctors said it was an infection. They didn’t want to tell me. I went to Tobago and still had the fever. My friend told me I had to get tested for HIV.” Roberts stated that after telling her boyfriend that she was diagnosed with HIV, he responded “Oh my God.” “The only thing he told me is not to tell anyone,” Roberts said. “He was only thinking about himself. Up to this day he has never spoken to me.” Roberts also expressed her concern for the younger generation stating that they tell themselves that it can’t happen to them, and that they look for signs like sores and bumps. “You can’t have unprotected sex with anyone. You have to love yourself to protect yourself,” Roberts said. “They say it takes away from the feeling. There are condoms out there that you can use and still have the feeling. You have to protect yourself,” she added. Eve Johnson – AIDS Network Coordinator, whose organization is funded by Title II of the Ryan White Act – said, “Were in the third decade of this disease and young people are still not using condoms.” Johnson tells of her best friend who died at age 35 from the disease as a result of her boyfriend – a conductor on the subway system – who hid his drug abuse. “She did not find out until she had full-blown AIDS,” Johnson said. She also believes that stigma has also played a role in preventing people from getting tested. “People do not want to talk about it. We talk about Beyonce and Jay-Z before who you with down the street. More people are being tested now who should have been tested years ago. People have been positive and didn’t know.” Johnson also stresses that we need to hold the older people accountable, describing an event held at a school in which a mother told her she did not know what to tell her daughter about sex. “Parents need to take care of their children,” she said. But no area has seen greater effect than Central Brooklyn – made up of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, and Brownsville – which has the largest African American community on the continent of North America and has 5,599 people living with HIV/AIDS. In a recent telephone survey -- conducted by the National Institute of Child Health and Human development -- of 500 African Americans aged 15 to 44 they found that nearly half believe that HIV is manmade, 27 percent thought it was produced in a government laboratory, and 16 percent thought the government created HIV/AIDS to control the black population. According to Bosket, “Scientific evidence shows it is not a man made disease although it has impacted minorities, mainly blacks, latinos, and gays, greatly.” Dr. Anjali Sharma of the SUNY Downstate Medical Center had similar views. “I think African American beliefs about AIDS is a big problem. It shows that they don’t trust the government or the medical system,” she said. On a positive note, Sharma pointed out that because of advancement in medicine people with HIV/AIDS are now living longer. A rise from 30 years old to 50 years old, and also that more rapid testing is now being done. “You can now be tested in 20 minutes,” she said. According to the Brooklyn AIDS Fact Sheet, even when condoms are used 100 percent of the time, they fail to reduce the risk of most common STD’s, but are 85 percent effective against HIV. When asked of its effectiveness, Sharma responded by saying “Whether condoms are effective depends on the STD, but they are very effective against HIV.” Bosket however went into to greater detail saying, “They’re effective when they’re used, but latex condoms have pores that are large enough for HPV (human papilloma virus) cells to go through those pores.” But he agreed that they can prevent most STD’s when used correctly. “Prevention methods are now being targeted to gay, Latino and black men. We have to continue the messages,” he said.
©Courier-Life Publications 2006