Uno Reverse: HIV Donations in TN

Tennessee started off blocking $8.3 million in federal funds for HIV prevention, surveillance, and treatment to help combat the spread of the virus in January of this year. This news came after the Center for Disease Control and Prevention announced that it would go around the state government and continue to provide $4 million in funding to nonprofit groups in Tennessee.

Before we get into the Uno reverse part of this, it is important to understand why the state government blocking the money to help curb the spread of HIV is so significant. HIV is poorly controlled in the state of Tennessee and Governor Bill Lee previously signed into legislation a bill to exclude both the Tennessee Transgender Task Force and Planned Parenthood from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's grant to the state. In addition, Tennessee is home to the county with the third highest HIV diagnosis rate-Shelby County. More specifically, the primary "problem child" for the spread of HIV is Memphis. It's also important to know that $6.1 million of the CDC funding was getting blocked plus an additional, separate federal fund of $2.1 million that would specifically be used to help with HIV prevention and treatment in Shelby County. There is a lot of speculation as to why the funding was blocked, most of which was assumed to be political, but there is no definite evidence one way or another at this point as to what Governor Lee's motivation for blocking the HIV funding is.

Why is HIV such a big deal? The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) over time. Basically, the immune system starts to fail and allows infections and cancers to thrive. Without any sort of treatment, the average survival time after infection is between 9 to 11 years depending on the HIV subtype. HIV is transferred via fluid exchange, while in most cases that is sexual, it can also be transferred via blood contact or breast milk. HIV is highly contagious, and while there are treatments once contracted, there is no cure once the virus has "taken root" post exposure. Hence, surveillance and prevention are just as important as treatment for the disease, because once it has spread it cannot be cured though the symptoms and development can be controlled to a certain extent.

So, what happened with HIV funding in Tennessee? Well, the Center for Disease Control later announced that it would no longer tolerate the run around it was getting from the Tennessee Health Department and instead pledged to deliver $4 million in HIV grant funds directly to the United Way. In addition, Rep. Steve Cohen representing the Memphis area sent a letter to the Health and Human Services Secretary asking the agency to provide $2.1 million in federal grant money directly to Shelby County. Following that, the Lee administration pledged to replace the blocked $8.3 million in federal funding with state funding, likely due to public backlash. Even without Rep. Cohen's plea being approved, Tennessee is now looking at having around $13 million in funding to help with the surveillance, prevention, and treatment of HIV.

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