My Brothaz Home closing down

SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) - My Brothaz Home has helped countless people living with HIV and AIDS in our community. But the Centers for Disease Control has cut funding to our area by 53 percent. That, on top of other funding cuts by various foundations, is forcing the organization to close down for now.

My Brothaz Home is a local non profit group that does rapid HIV testing. They also have support groups for men and women who test positive, among other services. Executive Director, Mark Douglas, says the organization has been losing funding for the past four or five years. Douglas believes they've lost anywhere between 60 to 70 percent of the funds they relied on to stay open.

Now, with the cuts from the CDC, the My Brothaz Home Board of Directors decided to suspend services, until they can get more funding.

"It could mean that there could be less HIV prevention education services in our community, since we work with the high risk populations," explained Douglas. "Less testing opportunities in our community, which means the number of people who get infected may go up. People may put themselves at risk, and don't seek testing and counseling services."

"That is going to be a big loss for our community," said Susan Alt, Coastal Health District."They have been very successful in reaching the target population and identifying new people who have tested positive."

The organization hopes to regroup and do HIV prevention conferences every quarter. Mark says My Brothaz Home will be closed by April first.

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