About the Ryan White Care Act

Anyone who is involved with the HIV/AIDS epidemic in any way, either as a patient, a family member or a friend of a patient, or as an employee or volunteer in the healthcare field has undoubtedly heard about The Ryan White Care Act and about the federal funding for HIV/AIDS programs that is supplied as a result of the program. However, many people today do not know the background of the Ryan White Care Act, and I feel that it is essential for all of us involved in this epidemic to know the history behind this program and to know Ryan White.

Ryan White was born in Kokomo, Indiana (U.S.) in 1971. He was diagnosed with hemophilia (a disorder where the blood is unable to clot normally due to a deficiency of Factor VIII, one of the essential clotting factors) when he was only 3 days old. Ryan needed transfusions of Factor VIII ( a blood clotting factor) twice a week for his entire life to prevent him from bleeding to death. In 1984, while he was hospitalized for the treatment of an aggressive pneumonia, Ryan was diagnosed with AIDS after he had surgery to remove a part of his lung to treat the pneumonia.