Baltimore City Council Commission on HIV/AIDS Asks Governor to Declare State of Emergency

The Baltimore City Council's Commission on HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment in a report released yesterday recommended that Gov. Parris Glendening (D) declare the disease a public health emergency in the city, the Baltimore Sun reports. Such a declaration could facilitate additional funding for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment in Baltimore, which is home to 15% of Maryland's population but more than half of the state's HIV-positive residents. However, only 15% of the state's population lives in the city. City Council President Sheila Dixon, who established the commission in 2001 to evaluate how the disease was spreading in the city, yesterday submitted a bill to the city council that would formalize the commission's recommendation and ask Glendening for further assistance from the state in the form of an emergency declaration. "It's so crucial and so important that we educate and inform the public about this epidemic," Dixon, whose brother and sister-in-law died of AIDS-related illnesses, said (Baltimore Sun, 6/11). The report, which also outlines how the city should address its HIV/AIDS problem, is available online.