Across the city, the health department is trying various remedies, from offering free antibiotics to medical providers who need them to launching an interactive Web site (www.stdphilly.org) with candid advice. It also allows users to send anonymous e-cards telling former sex partners their bad news.
"I hate to tell you this," reads one, "you may have been exposed to STDs. Please get checked soon."
Last month, the city alerted doctors to a new recommendation: annual syphilis testing for females 15 to 40 who had had more than one sexual partner in the previous year.
The cuts will not affect these strategies, and most HIV testing in Philadelphia - at the high volume clinics, city health centers and prisons - is underwritten by Washington.
What's on the cutting floor is money secured in recent years from Harrisburg by State Sen. Vincent Hughes (D. Phila.) He won it as part of a deal with the Democratic leadership for his vote to legalize gaming in 2004, he said.
"We have been able to help thousands of people," Hughes said. "To have these cuts go into place seriously cripples the fight."
The Obama administration has proposed small budget increases for HIV/AIDS while states and cities around the country are cutting deeply.
New Jersey appears to be an exception: Funding for HIV/AIDS was unchanged the last two years, and Gov. Christie this week proposed modest increases despite major cuts to the Department of Health and Senior Services three years in a row.
Some cuts are expected throughout Pennsylvania next year, though not as deep as those to Philadelphia.
The cuts here will affect two dozen organizations, said Jane M. Baker, director of the city's AIDS Activities Coordinating Office (AACO). The calculations assume that other funding, including city money that may depend on new taxes on soda and trash, remains stable.
"I'm afraid that agencies will go out of business, and the ripple effect will be greater than the simple reduction in the number of tests might suggest," said Metzger, the Penn researcher.
Toni Mullins, 30, participated in one of the last SISTA classes that Parks led for the Health Federation of Philadelphia.
She said she enrolled in SISTA in January because the risk of sexually transmitted diseases has always been in the back of her mind.
After two years in an exclusive relationship, she was using condoms only about half the time. Mullins said the program helped her raise the issue with her partner, and now they use a condom "100 percent of the time."
Without the course, she said, "I don't think I would have brought it up at all."
Contact staff writer Don Sapatkin at 215-854-2617 or dsapatkin@phillynews.com.
