Bay Windows - February 8, 2007
Laura Kiritsy, lkiritsy@baywindows.com

Santiago, like the others in the room, had come to Beacon Hill to ask legislators for a $5 million increase in HIV/AIDS funding for Fiscal Year 08. But despite her lengthy battle against the disease, Santiago was not there to advocate for her needs alone. Rather, her message to legislators was that, "We still need more AIDS funding for the people that are newly diagnosed, so they'll be able to utilize the services that I've been able to utilize.

"I'm just happy to be here," said Santiago, growing tearful. "As long as I'm alive I'll still be here every day to advocate, reach out. "We still need funding. This is not over. The battle's just begun."

Indeed, HIV/AIDS advocates are still struggling to recover from a series of devastating budget cuts in the early part of the decade, in which the state budget's AIDS line item shrank by about 37 percent - from $51.1 million to $32 million - in the fiscal years 01 to 04. The cuts significantly hindered prevention efforts and the delivery of care to people already living with the virus, said Dr. Stephen Boswell, president of Fenway Community Health Center. Ensuing years have seen have small increases in state HIV/AIDS funding; the Fiscal Year 07 budget stands at $36.7 million, which represents a $1.1 million increase over the previous year. And the request by advocates for a $5 million increase for the Fiscal Year 08 budget is being made just as Gov. Deval Patrick is predicting a $1 billion revenue shortfall for the coming fiscal year. Then there's the fact that the state stands to lose roughly $3 million in federal Ryan White CARE Act funding due to changes in funding formulas - a key argument put forth by advocates in arguing for this year's increase in state funds.

Meanwhile, according to Project ABLE (AIDS Budget Legislative Effort), the statewide coalition of AIDS organizations and advocates that sponsored the lobby day, there are nearly 16,500 people diagnosed and living with HIV/AIDS in Massachusetts and nearly 1000 new infections are diagnosed annually. According to Boswell, there may be as many as 6000 people in the Bay State who are unknowingly infected.

Despite the state's looming budget crisis, advocates were upbeat about the prospects for a budget increase in the coming fiscal year. "I think that we have made a very realistic request, five million dollars," said Gary Daffin, executive director of the Multicultural AIDS Coalition. "The need is obviously much more but we did take a look at what is happening with the economy and how there's probably going to be a budget deficit for next year. But the fact is it's an investment and the return on the investment is much more than five million dollars in the long run."

Addressing the gathering in Nurses Hall, Senate President Robert Travaglini, who has worked with advocates to secure HIV/AIDS funding since his days on the Boston City Council in the 1980s, was noncommittal on the funding increase, but noted that "there are a number of those of us in the Senate who feel very strongly about this."

"We will deal with the request for an increased appropriation in the appropriate context and if it can be done, it will be done," said Travaglini, drawing a round of applause. "We did a little bit last year with the increase of 1.1 million dollars. I know that you're looking for a little bit more. ... But let it suffice to say that somebody that's been involved in this campaign for 23 years is not about to end his participation in it."

Also mindful of a budget crunch, state Rep. Gloria Fox (D-Roxbury) urged the crowd to fight for every dollar. "There is a problem with money I know that. ... We sometimes have the ways, we don't always have the means," said Fox. "You understand? So there is competition for the very dollars that you need and we need for HIV and AIDS. The competition is great. You've gotta tell your story. You've gotta educate all of us in this building from the governor's staff and the new secretariats to all of us that are legislators [in] the House and the Senate."

Boswell, who also noted that Feb. 7 was National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, made the case that upping the state's AIDS line item makes good business sense, now that people with HIV and AIDS are living longer. "The good news is that more people are living [longer] with HIV and AIDS but we must also extend additional resources to care for those individuals," said Boswell. "In the long run the care of the individuals, the support of individuals, so that they can stay in their communities makes more sense from the standpoint for the expenses of the state and from the standpoint of what is right for people living with HIV and AIDS."

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