Bolivar Representative Johnny Shaw filed a resolution in the state legislature yesterday urging his federal counterparts to re-authorize the Ryan White Act.
The act provides funding for treatment of those with full blown AIDS or the virus that causes AIDS, HIV. Shaw says though, that the formulas that dictate how much money each state gets need to be changed to reflect the disease’s growing prevalence in the South, among minorities and in rural areas.
“One of the things the resolution is urging is that the dollars follow the patient wherever that may be. And I think we have seen, I think the doctor would confirm this that the urban areas have been probably more successful in getting the dollars even in Southern states and rural areas where the epidemic is growing rapidly.”
Shaw was joined by Doctor Gary Puckrein, executive director of the National Minority Health Month Foundation. The Ryan White Act expired last September, but states are still receiving federal money allocated by the act.
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