Feds Award Billions for Americans Living With HIV

A huge infusion of money for people living with HIV was announced today by the Department of Health and Human Services as part of its funding for the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program.

HHS will disburse $2.21 billion to cities, counties, states, and local community-based organizations in 2021; the money will fund treatment and services for hundreds of thousands of people. The 30-year-old Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program pays for HIV services for low-income Americans — or about half of all people diagnosed with HIV in the nation. 

“For more than three decades, HHS has driven federal efforts to end the HIV epidemic in our country and improve health outcomes for people with HIV," HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. "These funds support viral suppression that saves lives, reduces health disparities, and slows the spread of HIV. We will continue to support the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal of ending the HIV epidemic in the United States.”

The Ryan White Program has proven its usefulness, especially in the last decade. "In 2019, 88.1 percent of Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program clients who received HIV medical care were virally suppressed, up from 69.5 percent in 2010," according to HHS.

The funding is split into several parts, with everything from medication programs to community centers to women's organizations to highly-impacted urban centers benefiting from the funds.

“Our Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program is a groundbreaking effort that has made extraordinary progress over the years toward ending the HIV epidemic in the U.S.,” Diana Espinosa, Acting Administrator for HHS's Health Resources and Services Administration, said in a statement. “These grants support life-saving care, treatment, and medication that improves health outcomes and reduces HIV transmission to patients across the country.”

Find out more about the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program here.