Grants totaling $2.1 million were awarded to HIV/AIDS policy research centers in San Francisco and Los Angeles by the California HIV/AIDS Research Program, according to an announcement made by the UC Office of the President on Thursday. The grants will be given out over the course of three years.
“The purpose of these grants is to set up policy centers in California to assess HIV/AIDS issues facing the state,” said Dr. George Lemp, director of the California HIV/AIDS Research Program.
With the funds from the grant, UCLA’s School of Public Affairs and the Center for HIV Identification, Prevention and Treatment Services will collaborate with AIDS Project Los Angeles.
AIDS Project is an HIV prevention and advocacy organization, and the groups will work together to study the distribution of HIV prevention and treatment services throughout the city.
This joint collaboration will also study the availability of preventive measures and treatment for populations with a high risk of HIV infection.
“Given the bad economy and the need for health care reform, the goal is to determine the most efficient and effective means to ensure maximum impact for HIV/AIDS services,” Lemp said.
This funding is crucial for California because the state has the second largest HIV/AIDS epidemic in the country, according to a UCOP statement.
The grants are intended to provide invaluable research to California’s health policy makers with strategies to develop cost-efficient HIV/AIDS programs, according to the statement.
In San Francisco, the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies at UC San Francisco will collaborate with Project Inform, an organization that provides information about HIV/AIDS, and with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation to conduct research on HIV policy issues that relate to care and prevention services. They plan to share these findings with California policy makers, according to the statement.