You get no HIV testing, of course.
Right there with them
When Texas abruptly ended its $600,000 HIV prevention contract with Planned Parenthood’s Houston affiliate in late December, state health officials promisedthat there would be no interruption in services. The Department of State Health Services parceled the money out to three county health departments in the Houston area and insisted at the time that the counties would have the capacity to pick up where Planned Parenthood left off.
But the Observer has learned that as of early June, Harris County’s health department has yet to perform a single HIV test with the money.
So far, the department has received about $250,000 in state funding but is still in the planning stages for its program. The Fort Bend and Galveston County health departments also received smaller portions of the money — Galveston began providing testing in March; Fort Bend hired its staff and began testing in May.
In the five months since losing its contract, Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast (PPGC) estimates that it would have provided 2,900 HIV tests and distributed around 165,000 condoms. Rochelle Tafolla, PPGC’s spokesperson, said most of its testing was conducted in Harris County, the most populous in Texas and home to nearly 23,000 Texans living with HIV. According to state data, Harris County is home to one in four new Texas HIV cases every year and its diagnosis rate is nearly double the state average. Among the state’s five largest urban counties, only Dallas County has a higher new diagnosis rate.
Martha Marquez, spokesperson for the Harris County Public Health and Environmental Services Department, told the Observer that the department plans to hire three staff members and begin testing “in the coming weeks.”
[…]
Testing individuals at risk for HIV as quickly as possible is “key” for reducing new infection rates, said Daniel Williams, policy and regional field coordinator atEquality Texas.
“It’s unfortunate that an organization that had a proven track record in doing exactly what this contract was intended to do was removed from it,” he said. “It’s doubly unfortunate that the contract was then sent to an agency that doesn’t have the resources to pick it right up without the delay.”
Williams pointed to other organizations in the Houston area that provide HIV testing and might have been better prepared than the county health department to pick up where PPGC left off, such as Legacy Community Health or The Montrose Center.
“Harris County has lagged behind the rest of the state in reducing its HIV infection rate, and this six-month gap in performing testing and getting people into treatment is making the situation worse,” he said.
See here for the background. You know who doesn’t care about any of this? Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick, that’s who. I guarantee, we’ll never hear them talk about this in any way that suggests they recognize there was a problem. They really do care about the sanctity of life, don’t they? Slate has more.
If you can’t afford to buy your own condom, maybe you aren’t responsible enough to engage in sexual activity.
Bill, that’s a ridiculous statement that ignores reality. Humans have sex, it’s the third most basic drive after sleeping and eating. Partners lie about their status. Better to test and treat than let disease spread unchecked.