AIDS Care Training Reaches Communities

In the 6 years following the launch of its first AIDS program, one of HRSA’s top priorities was to take HIV/AIDS service delivery knowledge back into the community. It had been clear, almost since the beginning of the epidemic, that HIV/AIDS required a much larger response than a single program like the Ryan White CARE Act could provide. The engagement of public health departments, community clinics, public hospitals, and the public health community at large was critical for building an effective response to the growing epidemic.

HRSA’s Bureau of Health Professions provided training through the AIDS Education and Training Centers Program early in the epidemic and continued to do so until 1997, when the program was funded through the CARE Act. (See chart at left.)

Publication of journal articles, participation at conferences, and dissemination of lessons learned, in addition to training, were critical to fostering engagement with the public health community. Two articles, in particular, stand out when looking back on contributions to the HIV/AIDS care literature in 1992:

• Bowen GS, Marconi K, Kohn S, Bailey S, Goosby E, Shorter S, Niemcryk SJ. First year of AIDS service delivery under Title I of the Ryan White CARE Act. Public Health Reports. 1992;107(5):491-499.
• Kachur S, Sonnega A, Cintron R, Farup C, Silbersiepe K, Celentano D, Kwait J. An analysis of the Greater Baltimore HIV Services Planning Council. AIDS & Public Policy Journal. 1992;7(4):238-246.

The authors of these articles were among the pioneers in HRSA’s response to AIDS. George Stephen Bowen later became director of the Bureau of Health Resources Development, which was responsible for administering Title I (Part A), Title II (Part B), and the Special Projects of National Significance (Part F) of the CARE Act in the mid-1990s. Katherine Marconi was a leader in building data systems that would help measure Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program effectiveness. And Eric Goosby, now with the Pangea Global AIDS Foundation, eventually became director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of HIV/AIDS Policy.