After a year of support and rallying from members of the AIDS community across the country, South Carolinians living with HIV have received some good news: The wait list for drugs from the federal AIDS Drug Assistance program (ADAP), which had grown to 567 people in April, has finally been cleared.
“We’re very pleased that finally we have been able to eliminate our waiting list after more than a year,” said Lynda Kettinger, director of the Department of Health and Environmental Control’s STD/HIV division.
South Carolina’s ADAP troubles took center stage last year when four HIV positive people died while waiting for meds. Since then, AIDS advocates have pushed for increased funding to get meds to everyone in the state who needs them. Still, activists now warn that the push for adequate funding must continue, since up to 20 new applications for ADAP treatment come in each week.
“The need is still there, and we’re in a good position to fill that need, but depending on federal funding, we could be back in a waiting list position 12 months from now,” said Noreen O’Donnell, coordinator of the state’s Ryan White CARE program.
Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
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Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I recently met a guy who is negative. I did tell him about my status and he decided to kiss me anyway (we didn't go further than that). But a day later, he called and said that he actually had a mouth ulcer that time when we kissed and he was very worried. Asked if he can get the virus from me that way. For that moment, I felt so insulted and yet I felt so bad. It was my first time having a contact with a "negative" guy."
