Washington Blade - February 9, 2007
Lou Chibbaro Jr.

The reorganization involves the elimination of nearly all of the former Administration for HIV Policy and Program's internal divisions and sub-offices and the creation of six new bureaus and offices, according to a Feb. 2 statement issued by Pane.

DOH spokesperson Leila Abrar said Pane has restored the office's earlier name - Administration for HIV/AIDS, or HAA - and is gearing up for a massive condom distribution campaign set to begin Feb. 14. The campaign is to enlist the participation of most of the city's service providing agencies, including those outside the Department of Health, as part of the first in a series of steps to boost the District's AIDS prevention efforts, Abrar said.

'This realignment ensures that HIV/AIDS remains a top public health priority, while marshalling all of the resources within DOH to identify the critical tasks that must be undertaken for the agency's continued solvency and success," Pane said in a statement.

Pane's reorganization comes one month after Mayor Adrian Fenty announced he would not retain Marsha Martin, the AIDS administration director for the previous 16 months under former Mayor Anthony Williams.

It also comes after Pane named himself interim director of the office, placing him in the dual role of running the AIDS administration and the Department of Health.

He said he and Fenty would name a new director of the administration in 30 to 60 days after Pane 'gets to the bottom" of what AIDS activists and health advocacy groups have said has been a problem-plagued agency for years.

In his Feb. 2 announcement, Pane said the six newly created bureaus include:

* The Office of the Senior Deputy Director [of DOH], who serves as head of the HIV/AIDS Administration.

* The Grants Management/Fiscal Control Office, which will ensure 'fiscal and administrative integrity" in the management of the administration's grants to outside service providers.

* The Surveillance and Epidemiology Bureau, which will be responsible for the collection, analysis, interpretation and dissemination of HIV and AIDS data.

* The Prevention and Intervention Services Bureau, which will oversee planning and implementation of HIV prevention and intervention services, including testing and counseling.

* The Primary Care and Case Management Bureau, which will coordinate and conduct 'all activities relating to the planning of care and support services" under the Ryan White CARE Act, along with related programs and services to people with HIV and their families.

* The Capacity-Building and Community Outreach Bureau, which will provide technical, nuts-and-bolts training and assistance to help city agencies and outside, community-based organizations improve their ability to provide services to people with HIV and AIDS. The bureau will also coordinate AIDS-related public awareness and educational activities.

Abrar said Pane has temporarily reassigned a number of officials from the DOH to the HIV/AIDS Administration to help implement the reorganization.

Cleaning house?

Although Abrar and Pane did not say whether the reorganization would result in the elimination of previously existing positions at the AIDS administration, city hall insiders said reorganization plans are sometimes used to 'clean house" in agencies where officials believe personnel changes are needed.

One former HAA official, who asked not to be identified, said health department directors have reorganized the AIDS administration in the past, with seemingly intractable problems persisting over the years.

'All this sounds very positive," the former official said. 'But what will distinguish this from the past changes under previous directors of that office?"

Another source familiar with the mayor's office said that Fenty and Pane are leaning strongly toward finding a new head of the AIDS administration that has proven managerial skills.

'I don't think they want another person who is a nationally known figure on AIDS and who spends a lot of time giving speeches and traveling around the country," the source said. 'They are looking more for an in-house person who knows how it all works."

Both sources requested anonymity because they are involved in Washington politics are not authorized to speak on behalf of the mayor or Pane.

Giving away 1 million condoms

Abrar said Pane has arranged for between 50 and 60 city agencies and departments to participate in National Condom Awareness Day, set for Feb. 14. She said the event will kick off with the first phase of a city-wide condom distribution campaign involving the first 250,000 of the city's purchase of 1 million condoms.

The participating city agencies will, in turn, distribute large quantities of condoms to community-based organizations, such as Whitman-Walker Clinic, Metro Teen AIDS and Us Helping Us - three of a number of groups that provide AIDS-related services to local gays, Abrar said.

She said the HIV/AIDS Administration would complete the distribution of HIV 'rapid test" kits to private health providers participating in the city's network HIV and AIDS service providers.

As part of a list of 'critical" tasks to be completed in the next 60 days, Pane said the AIDS administration would also complete 'HIV/AIDS case investigations and data entry for cases reported during 2006 and earlier."

While he did not say so directly, Pane was referring to the discovery last summer at the AIDS administration headquarters of boxes full of records of city residents who tested positive for HIV that had not been reported or entered into the administration's computer database system. The discovery stunned AIDS activists, who had complained that HAA for several years had been unable to provide an accurate count of the number of people with HIV in the city.

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