Florida AIDS group receives critical funding

The Florida health department last week issued a $173,000 grant to a community-based group working to prevent HIV infections in four state counties hit hard by the disease, the Bradenton Herald reports. The grant money, allocated to the Florida health department by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will go to the Sarasota-based Community AIDS Network for HIV prevention outreach in Manatee, Sarasota, DeSoto, and Charlotte counties. Manatee County, home to Bradenton, and Sarasota County, home to Sarasota, together have a higher HIV caseload than do 25 U.S. states, health officials say. The Community AIDS Network will use the money for two programs: one for HIV prevention case management services for at-risk populations, the other for the Voices Project, which uses interactive videos to help teach about how HIV is spread and how to use condoms correctly.