Growing number of HIV cases must be addressed

West Virginia’s substance abuse epidemic (and, according to some public health officials, lawmakers’ response to it) has led to an increase in the number of HIV cases here as well.
Particularly in rural counties, the worry is growing, as HIV clusters are appearing in places where there hadn’t been a single case in years.
Dr. Anita Stewart, of the Nicholas County Health Department, told Mountain State Spotlight the problem is two-fold. First, in 2021 lawmakers passed a bill restricting how harm reduction programs could operate.
After that, multiple county syringe exchange programs were forced to close.
Second, some public health officials believe lawmakers are unfunding local health departments, and have been for years. According to Mountain State Spotlight, county health agencies receive approximately the same amount of state budget money as they did 15 years ago.
That means not only is it harder to reduce harm by preventing needle sharing, it is difficult to afford the rapid HIV tests that help identify patients and get them the treatment they need — and the knowledge to be part of stopping the spread.
State Sen. Majority Leader Tom Takubo, R-Kanawha, told Mountain State Spotlight lawmakers should work to fix the problem of local health departments not having the funding to help prevent and treat HIV.
But he worries that will be a hard sell with some of his fellow legislators.
“They just don’t like public health or something,” Takubo, a medical doctor, told Mountain State Spotlight. “I can’t speak for other legislators, but I think we really need a bigger vision of our public health.”
He seems to believe it will be difficult for some of them to buy into that bigger vision. But he was right to remind us, it’s not really up to the folks getting comfortable in Charleston.
“Some legislators don’t want to change and learn,” Takubo said.
“It’s going to be up to the voters.”
Indeed, it will be.
And what we must remember is that public health is everyone’s business, as is helping to stop the spread of yet another monster stalking Mountain State residents.
We simply cannot afford not to act. Lawmakers must address this issue when they meet in Charleston starting in February 2025 for the next legislative session.
Doing anything less will simply subject the state to even more instances of failure.