Feds cut HIV/AIDs testing money to Lexington group after 32 years
A Lexington nonprofit will lose federal funding that paid for HIV and AIDs testing on July 1.
AVOL provides testing, prevention and outreach across Central Kentucky, as well as housing and other support services. It was notified this week it will lose $200,000 from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for HIV and sexually transmitted infection testing, prevention and outreach by the end of this month.
AVOL provides free testing to between 1,200 and 1,500 people each year, said Jon Parker, the executive director of AVOL.
The $200,000 in CDC funding provides the bulk of the funding for its testing program, Parker said.
“This is the first time in 32 years we have not received this funding,” Parker said.
It’s also hit at the worst time — Pride Month, an annual LGBTQ celebration. AVOL steps up its outreach and testing efforts during the month of June.
“To have this happen this month, the message it sends is truly negative,” Parker said. “It’s hard to believe this is true.”
The impact of the loss of that funding will be immediate. AVOL previously offered free, no-appointment testing five days a week. Those testing hours will be cut by 16 hours. Free testing hours will now be limited to 1-5 p.m. Monday through Thursday.
Parker was also in the process of replacing two HIV prevention and outreach coordinators. Those two positions will now go unfilled.
“The statistics on new HIV cases has not changed in Kentucky in the last 10 years. We still have a lot of work to do,” Parker said.
In 2011, the rate of HIV cases in Kentucky was 7.1 per 100,000 residents. In 2020, it was 6.7 per 100,000 residents, according to Kentucky Department of Health statistics.
The CDC has told state health departments the funding has been paused as part of cost-cutting at the CDC. The effort to gut the CDC is part of wider efforts by President Donald Trump’s administration. to reduce federal budgets.
“We have no idea if this funding will resume,” Parker said.
The board of AVOL will meet soon to discuss future plans. The group receives other federal funding through the US Department of Health and Human Services for other programs. The future of those federal funds is also in doubt, Parker said.
“Call your elected officials and tell them this is an outrage,” Parker said.
He also said people can continue to support AVOL through its various fundraisers.
Great strides have been made in testing and prevention of HIV and AIDS over the past 40 years. But those gains could turn into losses if prevention programs aren’t funded, Parker said.
“When you take away some of these initiatives, you are going to see cases rise,” he said.
