Prominent UCSF faculty are having a major influence on the City of San Francisco’s response to the AIDS epidemic. Professors Marcus Conant and Thomas Coates, director of the AIDS Research Institute, have been lending their expertise to committees of experts and activists who are devising plans on how the City should continue its fight against the disease.

In preparation for the upcoming Mayor’s Summit on AIDS & HIV, to be held on Tuesday, Jan. 27 at the Masonic Auditorium, these committees are drafting over 100 recommendations on AIDS programs, services and policies. Many UCSF employees are on these committees, said Dick Pabich, summit coordinator, and will attend the conference to present and discuss the recommendations they drafted.

“UCSF people, particularly from AIDS Prevention Studies and the AIDS Research Institute, have been a leading force behind the development of the recommendations and I believe they will be very involved in their implementation,” Pabich said.

Issues to be discussed at the summit include access and adherence to new treatments, testing and reporting, housing and funding. “Some of the controversial recommendations have to do with the City in its purchasing of health care for its employees,” Coates said. “When purchasing health care, the City [should] insist on contracts that have risk-adjustment, that take into account the extra cost of taking care of people with HIV.”

Another issue to be addressed at the conference is workplace re-entry. “Because of combination therapy, people with HIV are not given incentive to go back to work because they would lose their benefits,” Coates said. “We need to ensure that they won’t lose medical or disability benefits in the future.” Other recommendations will deal with substance abuse treatment on-demand and strengthening prevention efforts, which Coates said should be of the highest priority for many city departments.

The goal of the conference is that the recommendations will “provide a blueprint for the City on how it should deal with HIV issues,” Coates said.

By Paula Murphy

1st appeared 1/09/98

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