San Francisco is becoming a model city when it comes to treating patients with AIDS. Doctors and counselors of the city are becoming more accommodating with patients suffering from the disease.
In a report by nytimes.com, Ward 86 is the famous HIV unit in San Francisco General Hospital. Doctors and counselors of the said unit are supporting patients, especially those who can't afford treatment, to file for a public health insurance that can cover a patient's yearly treatment cost of $30,000.
One of the patients, Rafael* said "They were very reassuring and very helpful. They gave me the beautiful opportunity to just concentrate on my health."
San Francisco has launched new system in helping and treating patients with HIV and it lowered the city's infection rates.
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said "I love the San Francisco model. If it keeps doing what it is doing, I have a strong feeling that they will be successful at ending the epidemic as we know it. Not every last case - we'll never get there - but the overall epidemic. And then there's no excuse for everyone not doing it."
San Francisco's new treatment method has been backed by the World Health Organization when the agency announced that every state should follow San Francisco's step of administering antiretroviral drugs immediately to patients who got tested positive of HIV.
According to statesmantribune.com, San Francisco only had 302 new HIV positive patients and the epidemic's peak was way back 1992 with only 2,332 cases. Also, only 177 patients from San Francisco had died of AIDS but most of them died due to heart diseases and cancer.
Other records also have shown that 82% of patients suffering from AIDS in San Francisco has access to doctors and counselors while 84% of the patients in Ward 86 who don't have insurance or currently on public assistance were considered as "virally suppressed."
*not his real name
What can you say about San Francisco's new AIDS program for its citizens? Sound it in the comments!
