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Plan To Reduce HIV In U.S. Could Include $25 Million For Indian Country

Dr. Michelle Salvaggio holds one of the medicines she prescribes to her patients with HIV.
Jackie Fortier / StateImpact Oklahoma
Dr. Michelle Salvaggio holds one of the medicines she prescribes to her patients with HIV.

Nine Oklahoma health centers that serve Native Americans could get funding to reduce the spread of HIV.

The national Indian Health Service could get $25 million as part of a multi-million dollar initiative proposed by President Trump to end the spread of HIV in the next decade.

The initiative focuses on seven mostly southern states including Oklahoma, where rural HIV rates are among the highest in the nation, but it's unclear how much money would be focused on the Sooner State.

Health officials want to use the money to help prevent the spread of Hepatitis C — a liver infection that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates a quarter of people with HIV also have.

Congress will ultimately decide how much funding the HIV initiative will get. The CDC says nationally, HIV diagnoses among Native Americans have gone up 34 percent in recent years.

Copyright 2019 KOSU

Lenora LaVictoire joined KOSU as an intern for StateImpact Oklahoma in January 2019. An Oklahoma City native, Lenora is a life-long listener to KOSU. Lenora became interested in journalism while studying political science at Oklahoma City Community College. After writing for and serving as the editor of the OCCC student newspaper, they were converted to journalism for life. They are currently studying multimedia journalism and broadcast production at Oklahoma City University. Lenora is also a contributor to Oklahoma Today magazine. In their free time Lenora is an avid gardener and musician.