Posted on September 20, 2001 at 10:30 a.m.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has received a grant for $801,025 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to improve medical care and services for families affected by HIV/AIDS. The grant will provide funding for UAB’s The Family Clinic at Children’s Hospital and its satellite branch in Montgomery.

“This is the twelfth consecutive year that we have received federal funding,” says Dr. Marilyn Crain, associate professor of pediatrics at UAB. “Each year the clinic has continued to grow steadily. Last year, we served 600 clients — children, adolescents, women and families — coping with this devastating illness.”

One focus of the program is prenatal care for pregnant women with HIV. “There are drugs that can be given to greatly reduce a mom’s risk of passing the virus to her unborn baby,” says Crain. “We want to make sure these women get the very best care.”

UAB is one of 71 organizations in 33 states to receive funding under the Title IV Comprehensive Family Services Program of the Ryan White CARE Act. In total, the federal government awarded $53.7 million in grants.

“Because women frequently neglect their own health to care for their families, making sure they have access to quality HIV/AIDS care and services is critical,” says Elizabeth M. Duke, Ph.D., acting administrator of the HHS Health Resources and Services Administration. “Before women can adequately care for their families, they must care for themselves, and these grants help bridge this gap.”

“It has made a tremendous difference in the number of babies born with HIV in the state,” says Crain. “And we have seen a real improvement in the number of children with HIV reaching adolescence.”