By Jordan Gilmore and Adam Newman
Maryland Newsline
Friday, April 4, 2003

COLLEGE PARK - Despite major funding cuts to many state agencies in Gov. Robert Ehrlich's proposed 2004 budget, AIDS programs in Maryland should remain relatively unscathed, state officials said.

The Maryland AIDS Administration, the division of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene that provides AIDS treatment and prevention programs statewide, will lose a "negligible" amount of funding even though Maryland faces a $1.7 billion budget deficit, officials said.

The 2004 budget -- which the General Assembly is scrambling to finish work on by Monday -- cuts about $18,000 out of about $7 million in annual state funds, AIDS Administration Director Dr. Liza Solomon said.

The administration also expects to receive about $43 million in federal grants this year -- a number unchanged from last year after several years of steady increases, Solomon said.

The $18,000 cut represents a tiny fraction of the $50 million total budget.

"We're in relatively good shape," Solomon said. "There are many states that do not have sufficient funds to provide adequate medication and services [to AIDS patients], and we are very fortunate not to be in that situation."

Like most states, Maryland relies heavily on federal AIDS funding, almost all of it coming in the form of grants from the Centers for Disease Control and the Health Resources and Services Administration, Solomon said.

The majority of the money the state receives each year -- about $30 million -- goes toward AIDS treatment programs, while about $12 million is tagged for prevention programs and the rest goes toward other expenses, such as staff salaries and special local projects, Solomon said.

Maryland had about 24,000 people living with AIDS or HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, in 2001, according to Health Department estimates. More than half of the patients in the state live in Baltimore. Despite ranking 19th in total population, Maryland had the eighth-highest number of AIDS cases in the United States, and Baltimore had the third-highest rate of any major metropolitan area.

Federal AIDS money is doled out in proportion to the number of AIDS patients a state or jurisdiction has, while other, "competitive" grants are merit-based, said Solomon, who has directed the AIDS Administration since 1995.

"There's always more need than there is money, but I think we are providing services adequately," she said.

According to the CDC, eight out of every 10 American women and children infected with HIV since 1981 have been people of color. According to the Maryland AIDS Administration, 80 percent of HIV and AIDS cases in Baltimore were among blacks.

Last month, Baltimore received a $21 million federal grant for AIDS programs through the Ryan White Care Act. The money will fund a plethora of programs, from primary care and medication to mental health and substance abuse programs, said Monique Vinscon, public information officer for the Baltimore City Health Department, which works closely with the Maryland AIDS Administration.

"Our application was very good at at the same time we had a need," Vinscon said.

While funding for AIDS programs in Maryland will hold relatively steady this year, federal funds for global AIDS programs will increase significantly. The federal government has allocated $2 billion for HIV/AIDS research for fiscal year 2004 -- effectively doubling its current spending on global AIDS. The move is part of President Bush's ambitious five-year, $15 billion international HIV/AIDS program for 2004, which taps almost $10 billion in new money.

According to the federal FY 2004 budget, the money will go to the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a program that would help 13 African nations and one Caribbean nation.