POUGHKEEPSIE - Dutchess County has been awarded more than $1.4 million for the development and expansion systems of care to meet the primary care needs of persons living with HIV/AIDS, including racial and ethnic minorities disproportionately impacted. 

“Dutchess County has been a proactive participant in the national Ryan White initiative to mitigate the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic,” said County Executive William Steinhaus. “These funds enable us to maintain the community capacity we have built and provide the needed services that would be difficult to achieve relying solely on our local budget funds.”

The awards include $1.3 million from the 2009 PART A Title I funding stream of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Modernization Act of 2006, and $115,000 made available through the Minority AIDS Initiative of the same Act.   

The Ryan White Program was amended in December 2006, when Congress established a new competitive Minority AIDS Initiative grant program in response to the growing and disproportionate impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in some minority communities.  The most recent data available from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention shows racial and ethnic minorities represent the highest number of new AIDS cases nationwide, and 70 percent of people living with AIDS. HIV disease has become a leading cause of death for African Americans.