Countywide : Bigger Role for County in AIDS Battle Proposed

Calling AIDS “the No. 1 public health problem facing this nation,” San Diego County Supervisor Susan Golding on Tuesday proposed a comprehensive policy aimed at widening the county’s role in the battle against the deadly disease.

In a letter to Chief Administrative Officer Clifford Graves, Golding said efforts of the county’s public health division have lagged behind actions taken by the military, the state prison system and local school districts.

Golding said she was concerned about the placement of “high-risk groups” in the county’s penal, juvenile and mental institutions. Workers in the county’s licensed community care homes, educators, schoolchildren, emergency response personnel and other county employees can unknowingly be exposed to the disease, she added.

“AIDS has been recognized as the No. 1 public health problem facing this nation,” Golding said. “This county must meet the high level of responsibility it has to San Diego residents by providing support, medical expertise, resources, leadership and public education for prevention of the disease.”

Golding proposed a task force, a medical committee, public education efforts and a more clearly defined role for the county Mental Health Department, which she said will be increasingly important in the public battle against AIDS. Acquired immune deficiency syndrome, an incurable disease that causes the body’s immune system to break down, leaves its victims susceptible to a variety of infections and diseases.

Golding asked Graves to return to the Board of Supervisors Dec. 10 with his response.

She said she proposed the AIDS policy because she feared that the county staff, unless prodded, would take too long to develop similar ideas. A Board of Supervisors conference on AIDS that Golding proposed on Aug. 20 will be held Dec. 10.