On October 30, 2009, President Obama signed into law the Ryan White HIV/ AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009 (P.L. 111-87), which reauthorized the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program through September 30, 2013.
The federal Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, named after an Indiana teenager with hemophilia who contracted HIV from contaminated blood products in the 1980s and who died in 1990, works with cities, states and local community-based organizations to provide HIV-related health services. The majority of Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program funds support primary medical care and essential support services, but there is also funding for technical assistance, clinical training and research on innovative models of care. The program serves approximately half a million people each year.
The law also includes provisions to:
- Increase authorizations for all parts of the program by 5% each year for the next four years, resulting in a rise from $2.5 billion in funding in 2010 to nearly $3 billion by 2013;
- Extend protections for states that are still transitioning their surveillance data systems to be names-based;
- Strengthen and continue the Minority AIDS Initiative to address the disproportionate impact of HIV/AIDS on racial and ethnic minorities; and
- Set a goal of 5 million HIV/AIDS tests through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other federally supported HIV/AIDS programs.
Click here to see President Obama's statement on signing the bill.