AEGiS-BAR: DuPont to kick in $1 million for SF HIV prevention effort

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1999. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

DuPont to kick in $1 million for SF HIV prevention effort

The Bay Area Reporter - Friday, May 7, 1999
Cynthia Laird

Mayor Willie Brown announced a new, five-year HIV prevention effort for San Francisco Tuesday, May 4, partially funded by a $1 million contribution from DuPont Pharmaceuticals Company. The money will be channeled to a new coalition over five years, and the city will match DuPont's grant, Brown said during the announcement.

Nicholas Teti, president of the Delaware-based DuPont Pharmaceuticals, challenged other companies to participate, with an ultimate goal of raising $5 million "DuPont Pharmaceuticals is fully committed to HIV prevention, awareness, and education," Teti said. "The city's willingness to support this initiative is an excellent example of how government and business can work together to benefit society. Adequate funding is often what turns great ideas into successful initiatives."

Brown said the city and DuPont have been discussing the pharmaceutical company's contribution for several months. The HIV prevention initiative will be coordinated by the HIV Prevention Outcomes Coalition of participating organizations, members of the city's Department of Public Health (DPH), and community leaders. Health Director Dr. Mitch Katz said the group will work with the city's HIV Prevention Planning Council. Heading up the new coalition will be Dr. Tom Coates, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and director of UCSF's AIDS Research Institute and the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies; Sean Sasser, a youth advocate who serves on the president's HIV advisory panel; and Dr. Hermina Palacio, a DPH clinician.

'HIV isn't good to have'

According to DPH figures, as of March 31, there were 8,162 people living with AIDS in San Francisco. DPH officials estimate that there may be as many as 15,000 people living with HIV in the city. In 1997, the last year for which complete figures are available, the city spent $9.8 million on HIV prevention from federal, state, and local sources. Funding went to a variety of programs, including counseling, testing, referral and partner counseling and referral; multiple session groups; venue-based individual outreach; evaluation; and needle exchange.

The new prevention initiative will focus on unmet needs, Katz said. The mayor added that communities of color, youth, and women will most likely be the focus of new prevention efforts.

"HIV is affecting the most vulnerable people in our city," Coates said. "Many of these cases are occurring among young people and people of color. Women are especially vulnerable, both biologically and socially. The coalition will supplement and enhance the work already under way among our AIDS service organizations."

Coates cautioned that some people believe AIDS is less of a threat since the development of combination therapy. "In this era, in which we've been blessed [with new treatments], I'm beginning to hear HIV is over, that it doesn't affect us the way it used to. I've got news for you, HIV is not good to have," Coates said. "HIV prevention is where it's at and the message is simple: don't get the disease."

Getting that message out to various communities will be the challenge. Katz explained that the goal of the new coalition will be to take available information on unmet needs and use the money for programs to meet those needs. "It's an incredibly important timely gift to the city," Katz said. "We need an infusion of dollars and creativity."
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