Puerto Rico-HIV-AIDS Crisis-The Epidemic
admin on Nov 15 2007 at 1:46 am | Filed under: AIDS, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico-HIV-AIDS Crisis-The Epidemic
* There are 3,927,776 people living on the Island of Puerto Rico.1
* 29,092 cumulative AIDS cases of persons of all ages have been reported from the beginning of the epidemic through 2005.2
* In 2005, there were 1,033 new AIDS cases reported on the Island.2 Ranked 10th highest in the United States.
* There is an estimated 10,822 persons living with AIDS as reported in 2005. 2
* Puerto Rico has the SECOND HIGHEST death rate due to AIDS in the U.S. 2
* 49.5% of HIV transmissions are through Injection Drug Use 2, however there are very limited needle exchange programs available throughout the island.
THE CRISIS
* People with AIDS in Puerto Rico have had to endure mismanagement and outright fraud in their ability to access HIV services for over 15 years.
* Puerto Rico does not receive Medicaid. This creates a shortage in health care resources for the Island as well for administrative infrastructure for the Department of Health.
* There is a waiting list of people waiting to be enrolled in the AIDS Drug Assistance Program. There is also a waiting list of people who are already enrolled in Puerto Rico’s ADAP program but are waiting for medicines and suffer from frequent interruptions in pharmacy access or regularly receive incomplete prescriptions (2 but not 4 of the drugs prescribed)
THE SOLUTION
1. The government needs to contract with a third party non-profit to manage the Federal funds.
2. There needs to be immediate funds made available from the federal government and the government of Puerto Rico to provide medicines and care.
3. Third, there need to be Congressional oversight hearings and fact-finding about what led to the current crisis and what the needed solutions are.
1 U.S. Census Data 2006
2 The Henry Kaiser Family Foundation, www.statehealthfacts.org
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