Overview of Ryan White CARE Act Programs in the U.S.-Mexico Border Region

The Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act is Federal legislation that addresses the unmet health needs of persons living with HIV disease (PLWH) by funding primary health care and support services.

The CARE Act is administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB). HRSA HAB supports many services across the U.S-Mexico Border region.

AIDS Education and Training Centers

The AETC program is active in the U.S.-Mexico border region. The four border states fall into three AETC regions served by six local performance sites. These regional and local AETCs and HRSA representatives have formed a steering team to facilitate coordination.

U.S. Mexico Border AETC Steering Team

The U.S. Mexico Border AETC Steering Team (UMBAST) is a working group of AIDS Education and Training Centers (AETC) and HRSA representatives that serve the U.S./Mexico border. Supplemental funding during fiscal year (FY) 2004 allowed the regional AETCs to conduct and maintain specially focused training and education activities for health care providers serving women, children, youth and families in the U.S.-Mexico border communities in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas. In addition, the AETCs, through their local performance sites, have provided overall management to coordinate and maintain communication among AETCs serving the border region. A new Web-based and printed directory of HIV/AIDS border resources was developed in collaboration with the AETC National Resource Center. The three AETCs are assisting in planning the 12th Annual International HIV/AIDS Update and HIV/AIDS Border Health Summit.

	University of California, San Francisco, Pacific AETC Serves California and Arizona with local performance sites at the University of California San Diego, University of California Los Angeles, and the University of Arizona.
	University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Mountain Plains AETC Serves New Mexico with a local performance site at the University of New Mexico.
	Parkland Health and Hospital System, Texas/Oklahoma AETC Serves the Texas border region with local performance sites at the Valley AIDS Council in Harlingen and La Fe C.A.R.E. Center in El Paso.

Other Ryan-White Care Act Funding

Title I

Title I - Grants to Eligible Metro Areas Title I provides emergency assistance to Eligible Metropolitan Areas (EMAs) that are most severely affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. San Diego is the only border-region EMA.

	San Diego County Office of AIDS Coordination

Title II

Title II - Grants to States and Territories Title II of the Ryan White CARE Act provides grants to all 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and five newly eligible U.S. Pacific Territories and Associated Jurisdictions. Title II also funds the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) and grants to States for Emerging Communities—those reporting between 500 and 1,999 AIDS cases over the most recent five years. .

	California Department of Health Services, Office of AIDS
	Arizona Department of Health Services,Office of HIV/AIDS
	New Mexico Department of Health (See also Prevention Programs)
	Bureau of HIV/STD Prevention, Texas Department of Health

Title III

Title III - Capacity Building Grant Program: The Title III Capacity Building Grant program funds eligible entities in their efforts to strengthen their organizational infrastructure and enhance their capacity to develop, enhance or expand high quality HIV primary health care services in rural or urban unserved areas and communities of color. There were no Capacity Building grantees in the border region at this time.

Title III: Planning Grant Program: The Title III Planning Grant program funds eligible entities in their efforts to plan for the provision of high quality comprehensive HIV primary health care services in rural or urban underserved areas and communities of color. Planning grant funds are intended for a period of one year. Planning grants support the planning process and do not fund any service delivery or patient care. U.S.-Mexico Border Region programs funded in 2004 include:

	International AIDS Empowerment, El Paso, TX
	Valley AIDS Council, Harlingen, TX.

Title III - Early Intervention Services The Title III Early Intervention Services (EIS) program funds comprehensive primary health care for individuals living with HIV disease. Title III grants reached 108,945 patients in 1999; 67 percent were people of color.

	University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
	El Rio Community Health Center, Tucson, AZ
	San Ysidro Health Center/El Centro de Salud de San Ysidro, San Ysidro, CA
	Family Health Centers of San Diego, San Diego, CA
	Comprehensive Health Center, San Diego, CA
	University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA
	Camino de Vida Center for HIV Services, Las Cruces, NM
	University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Truman Street Health Services, Albuquerque, NM
	Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe, Inc., El Paso, TX
	Planned Parenthood Center of El Paso, El Paso, TX
	Valley AIDS Council, Harlingen, TX

Title IV: Services for Women, Infants, Children, Youth and Their Families

CARE Act programs are required to serve women, infants, children and youth living with HIV disease, but Title IV addresses the needs of these populations specifically.

	University of California, San Diego, Mother, Child, and Adolescent Program, San Diego, CA
	University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Truman Street Health Services, Albuquerque, NM
	Valley AIDS Council, Harlingen, TX

Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS) Border Health Initiative

HAB, through the Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS) Border Health Initiative, supports demonstration projects in the Border States that deliver quality care to people who otherwise would not receive it and simultaneously evaluates models of care delivery that can lead to a more productive care environment.

	Arizona Border HIV/AIDS Care Project, El Rio Community Health Center, Tucson, AZ
	Camino de Vida Center for HIV Services, Las Cruces, NM
	Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe, Inc., El Paso, TX
	San Ysidro Health Center, San Ysidro, CA
	Valley AIDS Council, Harlingen, TX
	University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (Evaluation Center)

Two border-region organizations also received funding for the SPNS Prevention with HIV Infected Persons in Primary Care Settings:

	El Rio Santa Cruz Neighborhood Health Center, Special Immunology Associates, Tucson, AZ
	University of California, San Diego, The Owen Clinic of the UCSD Medical Center, San Diego, CA

Dental Reimbursement Program

The HIV/AIDS Dental Reimbursement Program of the Ryan White CARE Act supports access to oral health care for individuals with HIV infection, by reimbursing dental education programs for non-reimbursed costs incurred in providing such care. There were no Dental Reimbursement Program grantees in the border region in 2004

Community Based Dental Partnership Program

The Community-Based Dental Partnership program funds eligible entities in their efforts to increase access to oral health care for unserved and underserved rural and urban HIV positive populations. One border-region program received funding through this program:

	Kino Community Hospital, Tucson, AZ