CDC Cuts Georgia From Innovative HIV Tracking Program
Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed August 21 that Georgia would be removed from a federal program designed to pinpoint trends in HIV infections, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
The federal program revealed in early August that the United States’ annual HIV infection rate was 40 percent higher than previously thought. The CDC now estimates that 56,300 people became infected in 2006, up from 40,000.
While Georgia had received more than $1 million in federal funding to participate in the program, the CDC has cut Georgia from its latest round of funding, which began in January and will run for five years.
According to the article, Georgia will still track and record HIV/AIDS cases, but it will not take advantage of the CDC’s updated technology and methods. This funding cut will not affect the state’s HIV testing or support programs.
While the CDC did not fully explain why Georgia would be cut from the federal surveillance program, it told the newspaper that the state was not among the 25 areas chosen in a competitive application process.
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JOHN HOPKINS, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, 2008-08-27 08:30:41
THE AGREEMENT/OPERATING PROCEDURE OF SURVEILLANCE NOT SHARING INFORMATION WITH HIV/AIDS PREVENTION IN THE STATE OF GEORGIA HAS , I BELIEVE, LEAD TO INCREASED CASES/INFECTIONS IN THE STATE. THIS TYPE OF INSANE 'CHINESE WALL' REDUCES THE ABILITY OF THE PREVENTION EFFFORT TO IDENTIFY CASES EARLY, HIV, AND ONLY ALLOWS FOR EPIDEMIOLOGY AROUND LATE, AIDS, CASES. GEORGIA NEEDS TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT THE PREVENTION EFFORT INSTEAD OF PLAYING LIP SERVICE TO THE EFFORT.THE HOPE IS THIS IS A WAKE-UP CALL.
Robert Bailey, Atlanta, 2008-08-26 18:18:00
Will this Republican nightmare ever end?
"I'm HIV positive and diabetic (as well as have high cholesterol) and some of my meds specify taking them with 'high fat foods' which I have to do twice a day. I've eaten as healthy as possible, but when it comes to high fat foods, I am in a quandary...about what to eat sometimes..."
