Enhancing a State-Run PrEP Drug Assistance Program

Track: Finances and Access Models

Location: Fort Bend B, Level 2

Presenters:

Michael Barnes, Washington State Department of Health

Teah Hoopes, Public Health— Seattle & King County

Uptake of biomedical HIV prevention tools Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) and Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) has been limited by several structural barriers including provider locations and covering the cost of medications. This session will highlight innovative interventions to address some structural barriers to accessing PrEP by focusing on systemic, programmatic, and community-based enhancements made to support the growth of Washington State’s PrEP Drug Assistance program. This workshop will review PrEP DAP enrollment data from 2014 to the present, discuss enhancements made to support the growth and functioning of PrEP DAP at the state, local, and community levels, discuss innovative PrEP Navigation practices to support client engagement and persistence in PrEP services, and discuss strategies to implement similar enhancements in your own jurisdiction.

HIV Implementation Science in Sexual and Gender Minority Latinx Communities

Track: Implementation Research

Location: Memorial, Level 3

Presenters:

Sean Bland, O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law

Omar Martínez, Temple University

Carlos Rodríguez Díaz, DC CFAR

Jeffrey Crowley, O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law

Sexual and gender minority Latinx (SGML) communities continue to be disproportionately impacted by HIV. While new HIV diagnoses stabilized for gay and bisexual men from 2012-2016, they increased by 12% during this period for Latinx gay and bisexual men. According to national epidemiological data, transgender Latinx individuals are also disproportionately impacted by HIV compared to their transgender counterparts. High HIV incidence and prevalence rates among these groups have been attributed to psychosocial and structural conditions, including lack of knowledge and awareness about HIV transmission and biomedical HIV prevention approaches; poverty; discrimination; stigma; language barriers; and anti-immigration rhetoric and barriers to HIV testing and care. To address these challenges and implementation gaps, we urge researchers, clinicians, health and social service providers, policy makers, and multi-sectoral community stakeholders to support the adoption of an implementation science framework to increase the uptake of effective HIV programs and interventions among SGML.

PrEP Navigation in Clinic-Based and Non-Clinic-Based Settings

Track: Implementation Research

Location: Montgomery A, Level 2

Presenters:

Ernie Hoskins, Positively Living

Katherine Buchman

The purpose of this workshop is to highlight PrEP navigation programs supported by the Tennessee Department of Health, focusing on two models: navigation of PrEP patients to services within co-located PrEP clinics and navigation to external PrEP providers. Participants will learn how to successfully navigate patients to PrEP using each model through interactive polls and exercises, including debate of the strengths of clinic-based versus non-clinic-based PrEP navigation models and discussion of patient case studies. Workshop facilitators include a PrEP navigator who has worked in both clinic-based and non-clinic-based settings.

How Can We PrEP? A Photovoice Project

Track: Training Programs

Location: Tanglewood, Level 3

Presenters:

Katherine LeMasters, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health

Miguel Hunter, Triangle Empowerment Center

Earl Bradley, Triangle Empowerment Center

Will Grant,  Triangle Empowerment Center

How Can We PrEP? A Photovoice Project is a community-based participatory research project undertaken in a partnership between UNC Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health and the Triangle Empowerment Center (TEC) in Durham, North Carolina. We explored Black LGBTQ+ men’s experiences with pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention, a daily pill that reduces the risk of HIV infection in people at high risk via sexual transmission by over 90%. In this presentation, UNC students and men that participated in the project through TEC will co-present the photovoice process, photos taken during the project, key themes, and next steps that we can take together as a community.

Recruitment and Engagement Among Black and Latino MSM

Location: Clear Lake, Level 3

This workshop presents engagement and recruitment approaches among Latino and Black MSM in LA and Southern Arizona. It will include the following presentations:

Using Social Networks Recruitment in a Saturated Service Area

Track: Navigation, Retention and Re-engagement

Presenter: Miguel Bujanda, REACH LA

With the overwhelming saturation of HIV Prevention and Navigation Services in a metropolitan area, recruitment for HIV Testing and Navigation is near to impossible when targeting the highest at risk for HIV.  Identifying new positives can be challenging. Come learn how REACH LA, a small CBO, in a BIG city was able to increase their recruitment efforts and increase their positivity rate and increase engagement in HIV Navigation services, by effectively implementing Social Networks Recruitment with Black and Latino MSM through an interactive discussion and presentation of SNS Best Practices.

PrEP and HIV in Southern Arizona: Is There A Disconnect?

Track: Evaluation

Presenter: Cesar Egurrola, University of Arizona, Department of Medicine

Despite expansion of antiretroviral therapy in recent years and growing evidence for PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) efficacy, HIV incidence has continued to rise while PrEP uptake has remained low, particularly in populations at risk. Our goal is to compare these populations and further identify discrepancies in populations at risk in Southern Arizona.

HIV Prevention for Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Track: Community Mobilization

Location: Fort Bend A, Level 2

Presenters:

Russell Campbell, Office of HIV/AIDS Network Coordination

Kenric Ware, South University

Lance Okeke, Duke University School of Medicine

Louis Shabkelford, Legacy Project

Jorge Benitiez, Columbia University

Opportunities exist to enhance sexual health literacy on college campuses. As students navigate early adulthood independence, being equipped with knowledge about risk factors for sexually transmitted infections (STI), particularly HIV, is pivotal. While no demographic of college student is immune from HIV, research has solidified that minority students, particularly those of African-American descent, contract HIV at higher rates than their primarily Caucasian counterparts. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have provided the development and education of over five million alumni, which places them in a unique position regarding cultivating greater HIV awareness and to highlight venerated strategies available to counter acquisition and spread of HIV. This workshop will highlight an innovative partnership to help address some of these factors at HBCUs.

Sippin' & Spillin': Engaging Women of Color in HIV Prevention Services

Track: Navigation, Retention and Re-engagement

Location: Liberty, Level 2

Presenters:

Janelle Eradiri, Ryan Health Center

Charlene Kaloki, Ryan Health Center

Since the FDA’s approval of Truvada as PrEP, many HIV prevention campaigns have primarily focused on increasing PrEP awareness amongst men who have sex with men (MSM).  These targeted PrEP campaigns have created a false narrative that PrEP is only for MSM—leaving women out of the conversation. Sippin’ & Spillin’ was created in response to the HIV epidemic amongst cisgender and transgender black women—recognizing a huge disparity in the lifetime risk of HIV infection for these populations (one in 54 for cisgender black women and one in two for transgender black women) in comparison to their cisgender white women counterparts (one in 941). The Sippin’ & Spillin’ presentation will highlight the need for culturally sensitive PrEP interventions, that prioritize women of color—specifically black women. The audience should leave this presentation with the tools needed to implement best practice interventions tailored to women who have the greatest risk of HIV infection.

Immigration and HIV in Sexual and Gender Minority Latinx Communities

Track: Community Mobilization

Location: Sugarland, Level 3

Presenters:

Jeffrey Crowley, O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law

Sean Bland, O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law

Ángel Fabian, MPact Global Action

Bambi Salcedo, TransLatin@ Coalition

Sexual and gender minority Latinx (SGML) communities continue to be disproportionately impacted by HIV. While new HIV diagnoses stabilized for gay and bisexual men from 2012-2016, they increased by 12% during this period for Latinx gay and bisexual men. According to national epidemiological data, Latinx transgender individuals are also disproportionately impacted by HIV compared to their transgender counterparts. These disparities are the product of and exacerbated by social and structural conditions, including poverty, lack of access to healthcare, and rhetoric and policies that reflect hostility toward sexual and gender minorities, people of color, and immigrants. Given the prominence of immigration in current US political dialogue and the barriers to healthcare access for immigrants, it is important to consider SGML minority immigrants and the challenges that affect their ability to benefit from HIV prevention and care. This workshop will explore immigration as a social determinant of HIV in SGML communities.

Implementing a Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Clinic in a Local Health Department

Track: Implementation Research

Location: Harris, Level 2

Presenters:

Robert Dodge, Wake County Human Services

Karen Best, Wake County Human Services

Uninsured and/or underinsured individuals living in Wake County, NC USA do not have affordable access to PrEP services. Wake County had 138 new diagnoses of HIV from January to December 2017 among adult and adolescent (over 13 years old) population. The presentation will review how our local health department implemented a PrEP clinic offering day one starter pack of Truvada, while patients awaited approval from the Gilead Advancing Access medication assistance program. The data presented in this presentation documents the demographics, adherence, and retention of patients in the program. It will also review the documents used in our Electronic Health Record (EHR) to collect data, assess adherence, document education, and STI/HIV rates.

Next-Generation Prevention: Lessons Learned From Oral PrEP  More Pills, Ring, Injections, Implants, Etc.: Preparing for Rollout with Lessons Learned from Oral PrEP

Track: Community Mobilization

Location: Montgomery B, Level 2

Presenter:

Cindra Feuer, AVAC

What can we learn from oral PrEP rollout about how to more efficiently and effectively implement next-generation HIV prevention methods? Many new HIV biomedical prevention products are in the pipeline—pending regulatory opinion/approval (e.g., dapivirine vaginal ring, F/TAF) and others awaiting trial results (e.g., CAB-LA and preventive vaccines). As more choices become available, it is critical to understand what is required to support access for those who may want and benefit from a new method. Service delivery systems and providers must be equipped to offer a mix of methods. Early and sustained engagement of communities is instrumental to effective introduction.