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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana has been awarded $26 million in federal money to provide services to people with HIV—the largest such award in state history.
The state Department of Health announced the award Thursday afternoon to help treat Hoosiers suffering from the disease.
More than 12,000 Indiana residents were living with HIV and 507 were newly diagnosed with HIV or AIDS in 2016, according to preliminary state data.
In 2015, 6 percent of the 39,513 diagnoses of HIV in the United States were attributed to injection drug use, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Indiana was awarded the funds from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The money will be used to increase treatment capacity for HIV patients by funding psychiatric nurse practitioners and mental health and addiction counselors, the state said.
It will also boost efforts to connect patients to care sooner, which can reduce the risk of spreading disease.
The state said efforts will be concentrated on areas of the state with highest populations of people diagnosed with HIV, including Marion, Monroe, Allen Clark, Lake, Madison, Scott, Tippecanoe, Vanderburgh and Vigo counties.
The Department of Health said it will issue a request for proposals for recipients of the funding.
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