New York to Increase HIV/AIDS Funding by $200 Million

New York will add $200 million to its effort to end AIDS by 2020, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced yesterday.

The new funds would go towards helping people living with HIV to maintain housing through expanded affordable housing opportunities and rental assistance, as well as enhance services at "one-stop" STD clinics in New York City. It will also expand the use of Pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, medication, like Truvada, to protect uninfected people at risk of infection

The $200 million additional funds would represent an 8% increase to the $2.5 billion New York currently spends annually on such programs.

In April, Cuomo announced a plan to reduce new infections from 3,000 to 750 per year in New York by 2020.

"New York was once the epicenter of the AIDS crisis, but now we are showing the nation how to fight back and make this epidemic a thing of the past," Cuomo said in a statement. "We are making rapid progress toward a future where more people know their status, medication is easily accessible, and new cases are more and more rare."

"As we mark World AIDS Day, we remember all those we have lost, and we recommit ourselves to ending this epidemic once and for all."

Cuomo will detail the state's progress and his plans for tackling HIV/AIDS in a speech Tuesday at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem.

According to the New York Daily News, Cuomo will also ask for a $1 million increase in funding for NYC STD clinics. This is in addition to the $3.5 million the state already spends on such clinics. The Daily News also reported that Cuomo will announce that the New York will mandate that permanent and term life insurance products be made available for HIV+ people between the ages of 30 and 60.

There have been major victories on the war on HIV/AIDS, both globally and locally. The state Health Department recently announced that for the first time since the AIDS epidemic began, there were no cases of transmission from HIV+ mothers to their newborns since the summer of 2014.