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Black AIDS stats omitted from S.F. gay paper
Black AIDS stats omitted from S.F. gay paper
Dear friends,
The quality level of AIDS reporting in San Francisco, America's gay Mecca and model AIDS city, continued to fall this week. A front page story in the June 13 edition of the Bay Area Reporter by Matthew S. Bajko, Black community struggles to fight AIDS with less resources, shows how key facts are omitted from stories.
The BAR exclaims that "the Department of Public Health has proposed almost a 90 percent cut in funding to the Black Coalition on AIDS in its fiscal year 2002-2203 budget. The coalition, which had a budget of $1.3 million this year, expects to receive $140,000 in city funds next year." The reason why the coalition's budget is being cut is never addressed by the BAR, even though some explanation behind the DPH cut at the coalition can be easily located in minutes from the San Francisco Health Commission.
The minutes show deep hostility toward the coalition, to such a degree commissioner's use every opportunity to express their concerns for how the coalition handles grants and government money.
(3.1) PHP-AIDS Office - Request for approval to accept and expend retroactively a new one-year grant from the DHHS Office of Minority Health in the amount of $1,105,000 to improve health outcomes for women and minorities, for the period of September 30, 2001 to September 29, 2002, and four sole source contracts with: Dolores Street Community Services, Mission Neighborhood Health Center, UCSF Positive Health Practice for Men and UCSF Positive Health Practice for Women, and two MOUs with: Castro-Mission Health Center, and San Francisco General Hospital, for the same time period.
[snip]
C
ommissioner Monfredini stated that she is uncomfortable with the Black Coalition on AIDS receiving funding through this grant, given the problems they have been experiencing with their contract. Michelle Long Dixon responded that the Black Coalition on AIDS is not receiving any of the grant money. Rather, the money will fund a UCSF staff position, which will be outstationed at the Black Coalition on AIDS. (Source: http://www.dph.sf.ca.us/HCMinutes/HCMin01/HCMin110601.htm)
The fiscal accountability problems at the coalition have continually come before the health commission, so it might have behooved the BAR to broach the issue of why DPH is cutting funds to the agency, and that it could be due to the agency's fiscal mismanagement. If, on the other hand, the reasons for the cuts have to due with other non-fiscal accountability matters, then the BAR should inform readers of these other reasons. In any event, not giving the reader a clue or two about why DPH cuts are happening at this black AIDS agency is of crucial importance to a balanced and informative story.
Furthermore, on May 21 the health commission again had to deal with problems at this agency, as the minutes clearly show.
(3.1) Black Coalition on AIDS HIV Prevention Contract - Status Report
Steven Tierney presented an update on the Black Coalition on AIDS HIV Prevention Contract. In
addition to the report that was included in the meeting packet, Mr. Tierney submitted a matrix that showed Black Coalition on AIDS’ progress. The agency has received an acceptable rating in both the follow-up report and the most recent monitoring report, which will be presented to the Budget Committee at its next meeting.
Commissioners’ Comments
Commissioner Jackson asked how the agency addressed its staffing problems.
Dr. Tierney said that this has been an on-going problem that the agency’s executive director and
Board of Directors are addressing with technical assistance. Mr. Tierney said that at the moment they agency seems to have everything in place, which is reflected in the acceptable ratings they received in the most recent monitoring report.
Commissioner Jackson expressed concerned about the staffing fluctuations, and what affect they will
have over the long run.
Commissioner Umekubo asked if the agency’s performance has improved since the last monitoring
report.
Dr. Tierney responded that their performance has improved significantly since the last reporting.
Public Comment
Patrick Monette-Shaw - Concerned that Black Coalition on AIDS is going down the same path as the Bayview Hunters Point Foundation. The contract monitoring report is not sufficient to measure performance improvement. He urged the Commission to find culturally competent organizations that will get the work done and keep staff employed.
This contract was discussed separately at the Health Commission meeting. During that meeting
Duane Poe, the executive director of the agency, addressed the commissioners.
Commissioner Chow requested that the Budget Committee, at the time the contract with Black
Coalition on AIDS is considered for renewal, determine the intervals at which the joint conference committees and Budget Committee receive status reports on the contract.
But none of these facts were included in the BAR story, which reveals how sloppy AIDS reporting in San Francisco is right now. Even if the BAR reporters and editors don't care to read health commission minutes, they still could email or call the DPH for some answers to questions about the cuts are happening. And I must thank Mr. Monette-Shaw for attending the health commission meeting and speaking the truth about the Black Coalition on AIDS and the commission's limited oversight of the troubled agency.
The BAR also claimed that blacks make up 15 percent of cumulative AIDS cases for the city. That may be true. However, the BAR omitted the following facts from its story.
The March 2002 quarterly AIDS surveillance report from SF DPH, table 7, documents the following numbers of African American AIDS cases.
1992
321
1993
318
1994
290
1995
264
1996
216
1997
167
1998
150
1999
119
2000
112
2001
102
2002 (Jan.-Mar.)
5
(Source: http://www.dph.sf.ca.us/PHP/RptsHIVAIDS/qrtrpt0302.pdf)
One need not be a rocket scientist to see that these are declining numbers, representing fewer numbers of blacks developing full-blown AIDS, which is good news to me, but not to the writer of the BAR story, and the paper's editor, Cynthia Liar.
The only good development for AIDS reporting in San Francisco lately was the Examiner's June 6 front page story about San Francisco AIDS Foundation executive director Pat Christen making more than $207,000, while other AIDS groups are cutting executive pay to better serve AIDS patients' needs. Something Ms. Liar at the BAR chooses to ignore.
The quality level of AIDS reporting in San Francisco, America's gay Mecca and model AIDS city, continued to fall this week. A front page story in the June 13 edition of the Bay Area Reporter by Matthew S. Bajko, Black community struggles to fight AIDS with less resources, shows how key facts are omitted from stories.
The BAR exclaims that "the Department of Public Health has proposed almost a 90 percent cut in funding to the Black Coalition on AIDS in its fiscal year 2002-2203 budget. The coalition, which had a budget of $1.3 million this year, expects to receive $140,000 in city funds next year." The reason why the coalition's budget is being cut is never addressed by the BAR, even though some explanation behind the DPH cut at the coalition can be easily located in minutes from the San Francisco Health Commission.
The minutes show deep hostility toward the coalition, to such a degree commissioner's use every opportunity to express their concerns for how the coalition handles grants and government money.
(3.1) PHP-AIDS Office - Request for approval to accept and expend retroactively a new one-year grant from the DHHS Office of Minority Health in the amount of $1,105,000 to improve health outcomes for women and minorities, for the period of September 30, 2001 to September 29, 2002, and four sole source contracts with: Dolores Street Community Services, Mission Neighborhood Health Center, UCSF Positive Health Practice for Men and UCSF Positive Health Practice for Women, and two MOUs with: Castro-Mission Health Center, and San Francisco General Hospital, for the same time period.
[snip]
C
ommissioner Monfredini stated that she is uncomfortable with the Black Coalition on AIDS receiving funding through this grant, given the problems they have been experiencing with their contract. Michelle Long Dixon responded that the Black Coalition on AIDS is not receiving any of the grant money. Rather, the money will fund a UCSF staff position, which will be outstationed at the Black Coalition on AIDS. (Source: http://www.dph.sf.ca.us/HCMinutes/HCMin01/HCMin110601.htm)
The fiscal accountability problems at the coalition have continually come before the health commission, so it might have behooved the BAR to broach the issue of why DPH is cutting funds to the agency, and that it could be due to the agency's fiscal mismanagement. If, on the other hand, the reasons for the cuts have to due with other non-fiscal accountability matters, then the BAR should inform readers of these other reasons. In any event, not giving the reader a clue or two about why DPH cuts are happening at this black AIDS agency is of crucial importance to a balanced and informative story.
Furthermore, on May 21 the health commission again had to deal with problems at this agency, as the minutes clearly show.
(3.1) Black Coalition on AIDS HIV Prevention Contract - Status Report
Steven Tierney presented an update on the Black Coalition on AIDS HIV Prevention Contract. In
addition to the report that was included in the meeting packet, Mr. Tierney submitted a matrix that showed Black Coalition on AIDS’ progress. The agency has received an acceptable rating in both the follow-up report and the most recent monitoring report, which will be presented to the Budget Committee at its next meeting.
Commissioners’ Comments
Commissioner Jackson asked how the agency addressed its staffing problems.
Dr. Tierney said that this has been an on-going problem that the agency’s executive director and
Board of Directors are addressing with technical assistance. Mr. Tierney said that at the moment they agency seems to have everything in place, which is reflected in the acceptable ratings they received in the most recent monitoring report.
Commissioner Jackson expressed concerned about the staffing fluctuations, and what affect they will
have over the long run.
Commissioner Umekubo asked if the agency’s performance has improved since the last monitoring
report.
Dr. Tierney responded that their performance has improved significantly since the last reporting.
Public Comment
Patrick Monette-Shaw - Concerned that Black Coalition on AIDS is going down the same path as the Bayview Hunters Point Foundation. The contract monitoring report is not sufficient to measure performance improvement. He urged the Commission to find culturally competent organizations that will get the work done and keep staff employed.
This contract was discussed separately at the Health Commission meeting. During that meeting
Duane Poe, the executive director of the agency, addressed the commissioners.
Commissioner Chow requested that the Budget Committee, at the time the contract with Black
Coalition on AIDS is considered for renewal, determine the intervals at which the joint conference committees and Budget Committee receive status reports on the contract.
But none of these facts were included in the BAR story, which reveals how sloppy AIDS reporting in San Francisco is right now. Even if the BAR reporters and editors don't care to read health commission minutes, they still could email or call the DPH for some answers to questions about the cuts are happening. And I must thank Mr. Monette-Shaw for attending the health commission meeting and speaking the truth about the Black Coalition on AIDS and the commission's limited oversight of the troubled agency.
The BAR also claimed that blacks make up 15 percent of cumulative AIDS cases for the city. That may be true. However, the BAR omitted the following facts from its story.
The March 2002 quarterly AIDS surveillance report from SF DPH, table 7, documents the following numbers of African American AIDS cases.
1992
321
1993
318
1994
290
1995
264
1996
216
1997
167
1998
150
1999
119
2000
112
2001
102
2002 (Jan.-Mar.)
5
(Source: http://www.dph.sf.ca.us/PHP/RptsHIVAIDS/qrtrpt0302.pdf)
One need not be a rocket scientist to see that these are declining numbers, representing fewer numbers of blacks developing full-blown AIDS, which is good news to me, but not to the writer of the BAR story, and the paper's editor, Cynthia Liar.
The only good development for AIDS reporting in San Francisco lately was the Examiner's June 6 front page story about San Francisco AIDS Foundation executive director Pat Christen making more than $207,000, while other AIDS groups are cutting executive pay to better serve AIDS patients' needs. Something Ms. Liar at the BAR chooses to ignore.
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Also, they claim that its 100% deadly, even though no one knows how long it takes. They say that the medications help, but when people don't take them they seem to be healthier than those who do.
The SFDH needs to wiped clean and start over because it is clearly arrogant and indoctrinated into a homophobic AIDS religion.
>It is good to see that because of their rampant eating habits white "people" are dying of OBESITY at numbers far greater than the percentage of the population as a whole. Most of those dying are not even healthy. If only this could clean the white trash out of so many of OUR cities and make them liveable places once more!<
The concentration of AIDS is largely among this 2% gay community which would normally be quarantined if it were any other disease. Yet, so as not to appear homophobic, public policy allows the disease to spread. Which mean 98% subsidize less than 2%, an expensive proposition, especially when ACT-UP, PETA, and ALF have vandalised medical research labs that could have produced cures.
So really, the gay liberal community is killing itself.
It is just not so that there is some plague killing them off.