HIV/AIDS

NVRC has played a role in HIV/AIDS services in the region for over 25 years.

Beginning in 1988, when HIV and AIDS were first being diagnosed in the region, NVRC provided staff support and meeting facilitation to eight agencies – local health departments, social service concerns, and a local hospital system -- that met and developed informal coordination agreements to make care for persons with this devastating disease more dignified and humane.

Dramatic medical and pharmaceutical advancements through the years have transformed HIV/AIDS from a terminal condition into a chronic disease with strong prospects for long-term survival. Federal funding available to the region, and distributed through NVRC, recognizes the costly nature of the medical treatment, drugs, and supportive services necessary to slow the progression of HIV and enable a reasonable quality of life for low-income, uninsured, and underinsured residents of the region living with HIV/AIDS.

Today, NVRC continues to work with an expanded cadre of community agencies, service users, and advocates, the NVH Consortium, to evaluate disease and service delivery trends, assess needs, and make allocation decisions for federal Ryan White and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) funding as well as other resources. NVRC serves as administrative agent for Ryan White (Part A, Part B, and Minority AIDS Initiative) funds and HOPWA funds, accepting these monies, nearly $7 million annually, on behalf of a 17 city/county suburban Virginia region and making them available for subcontracted AIDS medical and supportive care. Learn more about grant funding currently available for competitive distribution, opportunities to comment on proposed service priorities, spending plans, and the like.

NVRC also continues its role, begun in 1988, as secretariat to the NVH Consortium.