The chief of the governor's commission on HIV says Alabama should increase funds for medication for poor Alabamians infected with HIV and do more to educate young people about AIDS. State Rep. Laura Hall (D-Huntsville), chairperson of the group, spoke to about 250 health workers, educators and patients Wednesday as the commission lobbied legislators for a $4 million increase in funds for AIDS drugs for the poor. The annual report released at the meeting of the Governor of Alabama's HIV Commission for Children, Youth, and Adults said 10,500 people in the state have AIDS, but the number of new cases of HIV/AIDS each year has decreased since 1991 from 964 to 704.

The House has approved a $2 million increase in the General Fund budget -- for a total of $4 million -- and the Senate has yet to vote on the issue. Hall said it will be difficult to get the $4 million increase. "I think the thing is to get the constituents and the clients to continue to educate the House and the Senate" about the importance of funding for HIV programs, he said. Cynthia Culpeper, a commissioner and Birmingham school teacher, said the fact that a state commission on HIV even exists in Alabama shows that the word has gotten out about the importance of HIV/AIDS issues. "Alabama finally woke up and realized this is a major problem," she said. Hall agrees: "It used to be that if a funding issue on HIV came up on the floor, you would get all these snide comments," she said. "That hasn't happened in the last two years."

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