The number of HIV-positive and AIDS cases is up in Santa Barbara County, according to officials at the Pacific Pride Foundation (PPF).
The nonprofit organization recently reported its new case numbers for 2010, and they’re not good. At total of 14 people tested positive for HIV/AIDS in fiscal year 2010, and another 14 people have tested positive since the beginning of 2011.
“That might not seem like a lot of people, but when you compare that to the fact that in previous fiscal years we’ve seen about two to three cases per year, it’s a big deal,” said Cassandra Chavez, an education and prevention coordinator at PPF.
The new cases are evenly split between North and South County—and are divvied across a variety of demographics, Chavez said. College students, gay men, and pregnant women have all tested positive.
The reason for the epidemic, she said, is a lack of education and prevention services available to county residents. State legislators eliminated funding for HIV/AIDS prevention services in 2009.
“It’s pretty scary,” said Cynthia Camacho, director of counseling and recovery services in Santa Maria. “All the hard work that’s been done over the last several years [has been reversed]. To me, it’s a direct correlation to funding—when you start cutting money, you can’t be surprised by the increase in cases.
“It seems like the clients are becoming younger, and they’re coming to us in the late stages of the disease, when they’re very sick and they’ve already been to the hospital,” Camacho said.
The last three or four people to test HIV/AIDS-positive have been younger than 30, she said.
“It’s amazing how little people know about this disease and how uninformed they are,” she continued. “The best thing you can do is come in and get tested and know your status … and of course practice safe sex.”
Camacho encouraged anyone with questions about the disease, safe sex practices, and other related issues to call the PPF offices at 349-9947 (Santa Maria) or 963-3636 (Santa Barbara).
Another way people can help is by making donations or attending PPF’s 21st annual Heart and Sole AIDS Walk on Oct. 1 at Leadbetter Beach in Santa Barbara.
“That’s our biggest private fundraising event. It pretty much all boils down to that one day,” Chavez said. “People think that because there’s medication and because we’ve come so far from the ’80s and ’90s that HIV/AIDs isn’t a problem anymore. But it’s still affecting our community. It’s an equal opportunity disease.”
For more information about PPF and its services, visit pacificpridefoundation.org.
This article appears in Sep 8-15, 2011.
