New York City loses $14 million in Ryan White funds

New York City lost nearly $14 million in federal Ryan White funds for local AIDS programs in fiscal 2003, down about 12% from 2002 funding levels, Newsday reports. The reduction is the largest seen by any municipality this year. New York received about $104 million in federal funds for 2003, down from $118 million last year. The reduction was due to federal funding formulas that allocates funds based on the number of city residents with HIV/AIDS as well as the "severity of need" in each region. Although the number of HIV/AIDS cases in New York increased in 2002, the allocation of supplemental funds based on severity of need was cut by $16 million. Joe Pressley, executive director of the New York AIDS Coalition, said that the reduction would affect city AIDS programs "across the board." Frank Oldham Jr., coordinator of the Mayor's Office of AIDS Policy, said, "I don't think I've ever seen anything as unfair as this. It's tragic, and I really don't know why it happened."