County AIDS Program Blamed for Rising Cases in Poor Areas

The number of people developing AIDS in Los Angeles County has risen twice as fast in poor and minority communities as in more affluent areas--an observation that Los Angeles city AIDS officials attribute to unequal access to AIDS drugs.

Dave Johnson, the city’s AIDS coordinator, studied the annual rates of increase in AIDS cases between 1986 and 1989 and found that the numbers rose at least twice as fast in communities such as Inglewood and Compton as in areas such as Hollywood.

The badly affected districts have two attributes in common, Johnson said. They have high rates of poverty and poor access to health care services aimed at delaying the onset of AIDS in people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

“I refer to this report as the smoking gun,” said Johnson, who submitted his findings Monday to the county’s Commission on AIDS. “We really have documented that the lack of early treatment services coming from the county is resulting in people getting sick faster.”

Johnson wants county health officials to initiate an emergency public awareness campaign on the importance of early treatment and to make available low-cost AIDS drugs in all county health facilities, not just in the large medical centers.

He wants all people who test positive for the AIDS virus at county test sites to be referred immediately for treatment. He also wants outpatient AIDS and HIV services at the county medical centers greatly expanded to lessen the wait for an appointment.