Puerto Rico aims to strengthen faltering AIDS treatment program

Puerto Rico's AIDS treatment program, hit by drug shortages in recent months, will be aggressively revamped to ensure patients in the U.S. territory receive medication without delays, the governor announced Tuesday.

The program aims to provide anti-retroviral drug therapy for thousands of HIV/AIDS sufferer but has faltered recently due to a forced rationing of free medicine for hundreds of patients. Advocates blame the shortages on mismanagement.

To strengthen the island's program, Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila said some US$78 million (€56.6 million) in federal and local funds will be allocated to streamline medication disbursements and to hire 23 new employees, including Jorge Delgado Rivas, an HIV-positive doctor from California who will serve as the program's new director.

The New York-based Latino Commission on AIDS praised Acevedo and other government officials for the planned overhaul of the program.

"History is being made in Puerto Rico today," said HIV patient Adalid Castro Carreras. "We will keep fighting and make sure everything promised becomes a reality."
Acevedo's announcement comes amid criticism of the island's AIDS program for delays in treatment and mismanagement of federal funds.

More than 26 out of every 100,000 people in Puerto Rico have AIDS, a rate nearly double that of the U.S. mainland, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Intravenous drug users have fueled the increase of HIV cases in the island, although infections among married women have surged, health officials said Tuesday.

As part of the overhaul, health officials are reviewing existing HIV/AIDS cases so they can improve services, Acevedo said. A system that scrutinizes management of federal and state funds will also be created.

Last year, the U.S. halted payments to some clinics that treat AIDS patients, following an investigation into suspected irregularities in the handling of federal funds for HIV/AIDS programs. Almost two dozen clinics were forced to ration free medicine for hundreds of poor people.

The Caribbean region has the second highest rate of HIV/AIDS behind sub-Saharan Africa.

source:www.iht.com