City of Boston Receives $14.3 Million Ryan White Grant to Support HIV Services

City of Boston Receives $14.3 Million Ryan White Grant to Support HIV Services

The Boston Public Health Commission announced today that the city of Boston has received $14.3 million under the federal Ryan White Part A Program to provide a range of critical HIV health and support services to the more than 15,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in Boston and the surrounding area. This year’s funding represents a 10 percent increase over last year’s award.

“These funds will allow us to continue to make a positive impact on the lives of those living with HIV,” said Barbara Ferrer, executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission. “Through an increase in medical case management, nutrition services, and housing assistance, our clients will benefit from a whole health approach to managing their condition, as well as combating other chronic diseases.”

Clients from seven counties in Massachusetts and three counties in southern New Hampshire will directly benefit from the increase. The Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) administers the funds to local community health centers and other community-based organizations from Boston to Worcester, down to New Bedford, and north to Nashua. A total of 37 agencies, comprised of 63 programs, have been awarded Ryan White funding by the Commission. These organizations provide a range of services including access to medications, comprehensive case management, oral health care, substance abuse and mental health services, home delivered meals, housing support, transportation, and support groups. 

“It is critically important to keep people living with HIV (PLWH) engaged in care, adhering to medication, and achieving positive health outcomes,” said Michael Goldrosen, Director of BPHC’s HIV/AIDS Services Division.  “These funds will help ensure that we can maintain an accessible and comprehensive system of HIV care.”

“As the Affordable Care Act is implemented throughout the country, the care model created here in this region demonstrates how critically important Ryan White funding is to providing comprehensive care.” said Michael Goldrosen, Director of BPHC HIV/AIDS Services Division. “Our expansive services ensure our clients adhere to treatment, stay in medical care and have more successful health outcomes, while also reducing HIV transmission.”

Additional services and access to care will be particular important in the region’s communities of color, where HIV/AIDS rates are 5-6 times higher.  People of color and men who have sex with men (who may or may not identify as gay or bisexual) are disproportionally affected.  Of the 196 cases of HIV diagnosed in Boston in 2011, 68% were Black or Latino and 47% were men who have sex with men. The Minority AIDS Initiative, a subset of Ryan White, will provide continued assistance and additional medical case management and peer support services to African American and Hispanic clients in the area with the bolstered funding.

The Ryan White Program is named after Ryan White who was diagnosed with AIDS at age 13. He and his mother fought for his right to attend school, gaining international attention as a voice of reason about HIV/AIDS. At the age of 18, Ryan White died on April 8, 1990, just months before Congress passed the AIDS bill that bears his name – the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act. The legislation has been reauthorized four times since – in 1996, 2000, 2006, and 2009 – and is now called the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program.

Nationally, the Ryan White Program provides more than $2 billion in funding each year to urban areas (referred to as “Part A” of the legislation) and states (“Part B”), as well as outpatient health services (“Part C”) and services for women, infants, children, and youth living with HIV (“Part D”). This is twenty-third year that Boston has received funding.

For more information on the Ryan White funding, visit www.bphc.org.