AEGiS-SC: DuPont Promises S.F. $1 Million AIDS Grant

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

DuPont Promises S.F. $1 Million AIDS Grant

San Francisco Chronicle - Wednesday, May 5, 1999
Chronicle Staff Report

The giant DuPont Co. pledged $1 million yesterday to boost San Francisco's AIDS prevention efforts and challenged other companies to join in. The grant from DuPont Pharmaceuticals, to be given over five years, will go to create the San Francisco HIV Prevention Coalition. The new coalition, whose leaders will include noted AIDS researcher Dr. Thomas Coates of the University of California at San Francisco, will funnel money through existing AIDS education programs, organizers said yesterday.

San Francisco already spends about $9.8 million from federal, state and local sources on AIDS prevention. The city will match the DuPont grant.

"Some people think the epidemic has peaked and is now going in the opposite direction," Mayor Willie Brown said with evident disbelief, adding that he wanted the new effort to focus on cutting the rate of new infections among members of minority groups, women and young people -- groups that either have not been reached by existing anti- HIV messages or have ignored them.

"San Francisco is a place where we can have an immediate, positive impact," said Nicholas Teti, president of the drug company. DuPont is active in AIDS drug research.

Teti challenged other businesses to join the effort and help raise a total of $5 million for prevention and education.

"In this era in which we've been blessed with new pharmaceutical strategies to control the epidemic, we begin to hear how HIV is over, how we're tired of HIV," Coates said. "Well, I've got news for you. HIV is still not a good disease to have."
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