Alabama
legislature allocates $5 million to ADAP

The Alabama legislature has approved $5.7 million to fight HIV in the state, including a record-high $5 million allotment for the state's AIDS Drug Assistance Program, which provides free medications to low-income HIV-positive residents, The Birmingham News reports.

The total grant for AIDS programs also includes $500,000 for programs keeping HIV-positive residents in care and $250,000 for HIV education outreach.

The ADAP money will be used to shore up the finances for the cash-strapped program and continue to provide medications for its 1,100 participants but will not be enough to eliminate a waiting list of approximately 280 people, state officials say.

"Most of the people on the waiting list will remain there for at least another year, unless new federal dollars are appropriated to states with ADAP crises," state representative Laura Hall told the News. (The Advocate)