June 27, 2022 – Today, CHIPTS honors National HIV Testing Day, a day dedicated to encouraging people to get tested for HIV, know their status, and get linked to care and treatment. This year’s theme for #HIVTestingDay is “HIV Testing is Self-Care.” Knowing your HIV status is a key step to enabling you – regardless of status, to live a long, happy, and healthy life. Learn more below from CDC.gov

Resolve and commitment to end the HIV epidemic remains strong, despite setbacks in testing and prevention during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

New CDC data published ahead of National HIV Testing Day (Monday, June 27) show a sharp decrease in the number of CDC-funded HIV tests administered in health care and non-health-care settings (43% and 50%, respectively) from 2019 to 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. These concerning drops were seen among groups disproportionately affected by HIV, highlighting the urgent need to scale up testing and reduce disparities among the people who could most benefit from HIV prevention and care.

In non-health-care settings—where people who get tested for HIV provide information about race/ethnicity and transmission—reported HIV testing declined:

• 49% among gay and bisexual men
• 47% among transgender people
• 46% among Hispanic and Latino people
• 44% among Black people

To compensate for HIV testing and diagnoses missed during the COVID-19 pandemic, CDC encourages partnerships between state and local health departments, community-based organizations, and health care systems to increase access to HIV testing services, including strategies such as self-testing and routine opt-out screening in health care settings.

HIV testing is the bridge to highly effective treatment and prevention. Delayed diagnoses can lead to negative health consequences and increased HIV transmission. CDC recommends that everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 get tested for HIV at least once and that some people get tested at least annually.

While the full impact of COVID-19 on HIV is not yet known, these concerning findings add to recent CDC data that showed a steep reduction in HIV diagnoses and slowing pre-exposure prophylaxis prescriptions from 2019 to 2020.

To meet rapidly approaching national goals to end the HIV epidemic, the nation must accelerate efforts to protect health and expand access to proven HIV prevention tools nationwide, including focused, innovative local efforts through the federal Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. initiative (EHE). The EHE initiative, which includes an emphasis on the role of routine testing, is intended to decrease disparities among populations most affected by HIV.

To help communities move forward with EHE, the President has requested $850 million in FY 2023. These resources are critical. Efforts must be escalated urgently to equip communities with the resources they need to get back on track and meet national goals.

Please attribute the following quote to Jonathan Mermin, MD, MPH,
Director of CDC’s National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention

“We welcomed 2020 with optimism. New HIV infections were declining, and attention to HIV was increasing. But just as COVID-19 disrupted our lives, it changed the course of HIV prevention. Now we are at a crossroads. Will we accept the massive reductions in HIV testing, or will we bounce back stronger?”

Please attribute the following quote to Demetre Daskalakis, MD, MPH,
Director of CDC’s Division of HIV Prevention

“Everyone should enjoy good health—and getting an HIV test is part of a successful plan to do so. Some people may not get tested for many reasons, such as concerns about HIV stigma, homophobia, transphobia, and a host of other -isms and phobias. Or they may not know that an HIV test could benefit them. We must continue working together to overcome these and other factors that stand in the way of equitable HIV prevention and care.” 

Find an HIV Test
National HIV Testing Day is observed each year on June 27 to encourage people to get tested for HIV, know their status, and get linked to care and treatment. Find fast, free, and confidential HIV testing at CDC’s Get Tested or by calling 1-800-CDC-INFO (232-4636). HIV self-tests may be purchased at a pharmacy or online or check to see if the local health department or another organization is providing a rapid self-test for a reduced cost or for free.

Additional Resources

CDC Media Fact Sheet: The State of the HIV Epidemic in the U.S.

CDC’s Role in the Federal “Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S.” initiative

CDC Media Fact Sheet: HIV and Black/African American People in the U.S.

CDC Media Fact Sheet: HIV and Hispanic and Latino People in the U.S.

CDC National HIV Testing Day Resource Library

This content originally appeared on HHS.gov. View the full article here.

NEW CAMPAIGN SEEKS TO IMPROVE HEALTH OF PEOPLE WITH HIV AND PREVENT NEW TRANSMISSIONS

Community members share how HIV medication helps them achieve and maintain viral suppression

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has launched a national campaign called “I am a Work of ART,” to encourage people with HIV who are not in care to seek and stay in care and achieve viral suppression.

“Everyone with HIV can stay healthy and achieve their potential through HIV medicine called antiretroviral therapy (ART). When taken as prescribed, ART allows people with HIV to protect their health as well as the health of others,” said ADM Rachel L. Levine, MD, Assistant Secretary for Health. “‘I am a Work of ART’ focuses on the positive benefits of being virally suppressed.”

People with HIV who take ART as prescribed to achieve and remain virally suppressed can live long, healthy lives and will not transmit HIV to their HIV-negative partners through sex.

The campaign features individuals with HIV from different backgrounds—cisgender, transgender, Black, Latino, American Indian, younger, and older—who share their stories about living and thriving as a “Work of ART.”

“By engaging the community, including those with lived experience, local leadership, and providers in strategic locations across the country, we collectively release ‘I am a Work of ART’ to help the people who need it most,” said Kaye Hayes, MPA, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Infectious Disease and Director of the Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy.

A full summer of campaign activities is planned, including a June 18 roundtable discussion among the campaign’s creative partners, facilitated by Harold Phillips, Director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy.

Viral suppression is a key strategy of OIDP and the entire federal government under the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (2022-2025) (NHAS) and the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. (EHE) initiative. Both the NHAS and EHE initiatives aim to reduce new HIV infections in the United States by 90% by 2030.

For more information about the ‘I am a Work of ART’ campaign, visit HIV.gov/ART.

In July 2022, the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (JAIDS) released a special issue focused on implementation research to end the HIV epidemic. Our CHIPTS research team led by scientists Ronald Brooks, PhD, and Dilara Uskup, PhD, PhD, published an article in this issue that explores the use of digital PrEP interventions to improve PrEP care continuum outcomes among Black and Latina cisgender women in Los Angeles County. Access their article here: https://journals.lww.com/jaids/Fulltext/2022/06001/Acceptability_and_Appropriateness_of_Digital_PrEP.17.aspx

This content originally appeared on HIV.gov. View the full article here.

The Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. (EHE) initiative set a goal to virtually eliminate new HIV infections in the U.S. by 2030. This ambitious and unprecedented goal was predicated on decades of scientific discovery delivering the necessary tools: highly sensitive tests to diagnose HIV infection, effective interventions to prevent and treat infection, and cutting-edge technologies to identify outbreaks. Implementation research to end the HIV epidemic is the focus of a July 2022 special issue of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (JAIDS) . Access to the supplement is open and has been organized by the Implementation Science Coordination Initiative (ISCI) , housed at the Third Coast Center for AIDS Research spanning Northwestern University, University of Chicago, and numerous public health and community partners in Chicago.

This special issue reports findings from 2019-2022 Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) and AIDS Research Center (ARC) EHE supplement projects, as well as other larger domestic HIV implementation research studies funded by the National Institutes of Health. The articles included in the issue cover all geographic regions of the United States, including urban as well as rural locations. Equally important is the fact that the studies focus on priority populations, including sexual minority men, Black and Latina cisgender women, and transgender people. Readers will find articles in this issue address all four pillars of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ EHE initiative: prevent, treat, diagnose, and respond.

One article, led by NIH Office of AIDS Research Senior Science Advisor Dr. Mary Glenshaw, provides an overview of the NIH’s role in EHE. Another led by officials from CDC, HRSA, and NIH describes the inter-agency collaborations that enabled EHE’s signature science partnerships. The JAIDS issue also includes papers reporting results of implementation trials, such as the paper by Dr. Sylvie Naar of the Florida State University College of Medicine’s Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine and colleagues that tested a set of implementation strategies designed to improve Motivational Interviewing competence in youth HIV services providers.

Implementation science is a relatively new field that is seeing rapid adoption among HIV researchers who want to work with communities on strategies for effective implementation of these lifesaving innovations. The articles in this special issue showcase a range of implementation science approaches and can serve as examples to researchers and practitioners who want to join this initiative and develop their knowledge on applying implementation practices to their own research and communities.

Of the 27 articles in this special issue, 17 showcase findings from the one-year FY2019 CFAR/ARC EHE supplement projects supported by ISCI activities, while the additional 10 articles describe other domestic HIV implementation research studies. For example, readers interested in the state of the science on barriers and facilitators of PrEP can read a systematic review paper on the delivery and use of PrEP by Dr. Dennis Li and colleagues who used an implementation science lens to measure determinants.

In addition, those interested can also access the innovative online ISCI HIV Implementation Literature Review Dashboard  to search for the latest findings by key populations served, geographic region, and other important contextual factors. The dashboard is an interactive data tool comprised of hundreds of US studies that identify multilevel determinants of HIV implementation and is available for use now. It will be updated later with literature on determinants and strategies for PrEP, testing and HIV care.

To highlight the contents of the JAIDS supplement, ISCI will be hosting a satellite symposium at the 2022 International AIDS Conference  in Montreal titled, “Leveraging Implementation Science to End the HIV Epidemic in the United States: Highlighted Findings from a JAIDS Special Issue.” Following opening remarks from Dr. Maureen Goodenow, Director of the NIH Office of AIDS Research, authors of select studies in the special issue will present their findings. Other scholars will review the challenges, evidence gaps, and future directions in the field of implementation research.

About ISCI

ISCI provides high-quality technical assistance for EHE-funded implementation research teams and creates opportunities to share generalizable knowledge to help end the HIV epidemic in the US. ISCI provides interactive tools, decision support for researchers, curriculum for practitioners, HIV implementation science resources, and much more. All tools are publicly available at HIVimpsci.northwestern.edu .

The authors are co-directors of the Implementation Science Coordination Initiative.

May 19, 2022 – Today, CHIPTS honors National Asian & Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day  (#APIMay19), a day dedicated to raising awareness about the impact of HIV and exploring strategies to combat HIV in Asian & Pacific Islander communities. This year, CHIPTS Combination Prevention Core Scientist Dr. Wei-Ti Chen shares a reflection highlighting challenges faced by many Asian Americans and Pacific Americans living with HIV, and interventions to help address these challenges. 

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month and today, May 19^th, is National AAPI HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. During this time, we would like to highlight the impact that HIV has on the experiences of AAPI in the United States. Asians and Pacific Islanders are a rapidly growing minority group in the United States whose growth has been followed by an increase in HIV incidence. From 2015 to 2019, percentages of persons living with diagnosed HIV infection increased among Asian, Hispanic/Latino, and Black/African American groups but remained stable among the other federally recognized racial/ethnic groups (Estimated HIV incidence and prevalence in the United States, 2015–2019 (cdc.gov)).

According to the CDC, many of the HIV-related statistics are missing for AAPIs, which include HIV risk behavior, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) coverage, HIV incidence, HIV diagnoses, knowledge of status, and viral suppression. Existing data estimate only 74%-76% of AAPI with HIV received some HIV care, 53%-59% of them were retained in care, and only 60%-65% were virally suppressed. Unfortunately, estimates also demonstrate significant numbers of AAPAWH develop AIDS before even becoming aware they are HIV positive. Taken together, this paints a picture of a vulnerable population who is likely to see continued increases in HIV incidence in the future. Asian Americans and Pacific Americans living with HIV (AAPAWH) may be reached through culturally-sensitive interventions to promote HIV awareness, testing, and prevention (e.g., PrEP) that serve to enhance linkage to care and care engagement – with these essential steps, we can achieve both better quality of life and improvement in health outcomes for AAPAWH.

From our previous studies, there are many issues that influence care engagement in the AAPAWH community.  Many AAPIs are immigrants to the United States. One report estimated that one in seven Asian American immigrants were undocumented with some arriving via migrant smuggling. The top three countries where undocumented AAPI originated from are India, China and the Philippines. In our paper that focused on experiences of the AAPAWH during their immigrant process, more than half of those surveyed came to America via migrant smuggling.  The motivation for them to leave their home countries was due to their “American dreams”, prospects of financial rewards, success stories from hometown pioneers, and sexual orientation and amnesty history.  Potential HIV infection routes in our sample were found to be rooted in risky behaviors associated with the migration process such as unprotected sex and substance use.  As the smuggling process is usually arranged by snakeheads (Chinese gangs that smuggle people), dangerous routes with long detours are often taken by migrants. Mentally, they worry about their uncertain futures and after arriving in the U.S., they often need to work long hours to pay back their snakeheads. The immigration experience impacts not only their physical and psychological status but also their healthcare access and health engagement. Many face issues related to lack of insurance, HIV-related stigma, mental stress, financial hardship, low health literacy and lack of health care access.  For AAPAWH who travel under migrant smugglers, the long, dangerous and unsanitary smuggling routes and risky behaviors of smuggled migrants are associated with negative health outcomes including risk for HIV transmission and other potential traumas.  For healthcare providers who work with the AAPAWH population, disease prevention and health promotion strategies should include treatment and screening for infectious and chronic diseases during every care encounter.

Family support can improve health engagement with HIV care and enhance patient–provider relationships. Our dyad analysis explored the AAPAWH experiences and their need for family support. After disclosing their serostatus to family member, AAPAWH found support from family caregivers in terms of their physical, psychological, spiritual, informational, social and practical supportive care.  For the most part, family support is perceived to be positive however there are cases of dissimilar perceptions between family caregivers and AAPAWH. Many of the AAPAWH were hesitant to disclose their HIV status until it was no longer possible to hide, e.g., accidental exposure or hospitalization. Those AAPAWH that rely on children to provide care and translation are especially emotionally overwrought. AAPAWH felt embarrassed as they might need to disclose how they became infected with HIV and at the same time, children felt awkward to be caught between their parents’ personal life and the healthcare facility serving their parents. In addition, psychological support itself can be stressful. Caregiver burdens and depression were high in this study and many of them sought religion and spirituality for peace of mind. This study also points out that intimate partner violence before and after HIV diagnosis are concerns in the AAPAWH population, especially in discordant couples. To respond to the health needs of AAPAWH in a culturally-sensitive way, intervention designs can focus on language barriers, caregiver burdens as well as intimate partner violence in AAPAWH populations.

Sleep disturbances are common complaints among people living with HIV (PLWH), which includes difficulty falling asleep and achieving deep sleep, awakening early or awakening unrefreshed. As we know, sleep disturbances, physical symptoms and psychological status interact with each other; thus, depression, anxiety and psychical symptoms (e.g., pain, fatigue) can be worse in PLWH. A recent study focusing on how coping strategies impact physical symptoms and sleep disturbances suggests implementing effective strategies to improve sleep disturbances and decrease physical symptoms can improve effective adaptive coping and reduce maladaptive coping among AAPAWH. This study showed AAPAWH with severe sleep disturbances suffered from greater physical symptoms intensity and vice versa.  Moreover, sleep disturbances may indirectly trigger adaptive coping strategies through the mediation of physical symptoms.  Especially in AAPAWH with sleep disturbances, maladaptive coping strategies (e.g., venting negative emotions, coping through alcohol and/or substance use, and disengagement or denial of their illness) are triggered more than the adaptive coping strategies.  Also, HIV-related physical symptoms (fatigue, shortness of breath, weakness, rash, tingling of arms) in AAPAWH can prompt adaptive coping strategies like seeking healthcare and social support. At the same time, physical symptoms can also trigger the maladaptive coping strategies such as escape or ignoring the physical discomforts by diverting attention or even through denial of potential supports. Healthcare providers should assess sleep quality and physical symptoms when dealing with AAPAWH to understand potential coping strategies to employ during their HIV management. Future research into culturally relevant, integrated intervention programs for AAPAWH can enhance sleep quality and decrease physical symptoms, and lead to more adaptive coping and less maladaptive coping among AAPAWH.

AAPAWH are a vulnerable group with significant issues that impact their healthcare and access via a myriad of causes including physical, psychological, spiritual, informational, social, and practical reasons. Culturally-sensitive interventions to promote HIV awareness, testing, and prevention among AAPIs also need to address HIV care engagement in order to promote equity in health access and shrink the gap of HIV disparities seen in this population.

This content originally appeared on TargetHIV. View the full article here.

Note: May’s observance of Hepatitis Awareness Month is an opportunity to highlight approaches to addressing the syndemic of HIV and viral hepatitis, approaches called for in both the National HIV/AIDS Strategy and the Viral Hepatitis National Strategic Plan.

A, B, and C. These are the three most common hepatitis viruses. The first two are preventable by vaccines. The third is curable.

These facts come from the latest Viral Hepatitis National Strategic Plan for the United States: A Roadmap to Elimination 2021-2025 (January 2021), which states in its Executive Summary: “the nation faces unprecedented hepatitis A outbreaks, progress on preventing hepatitis B has stalled, and hepatitis C rates nearly tripled from 2011 to 2018.”

May is Hepatitis Awareness Month and May 19 is Hepatitis Testing Day.

Hepatitis C co-infection among persons with HIV is of particular concern as the disease progresses more rapidly and is more prevalent. From 15 to 30% of people with HIV are also infected with Hepatitis C, as cited in the Hepatitis C Coinfection chapter  of the National HIV Curriculum. Coinfection rates are much higher among injection drug users who have HIV, according to CDC.

Fortunately, effective treatments for hepatitis C are available.

Hepatitis C Treatment

Hepatitis C treatments called Direct-Acting Antivirals  (DAAs) became available in recent years They are more effective than earlier interferon-based regimens. For the first time, persons infected with hepatitis C can be cured, with all-oral, once-daily treatment regimens that last 8-24 weeks. Efficacy rates for these medications are high (above 90%) for both hepatitis C monoinfected and HIV/hepatitis C coinfected people. Side effects or contraindications of these medications are minimal.

Moreover, studies have shown that hepatitis C treatment is effective for individuals with substance abuse disorders. See the AETC on Myths about Treating Substance Users with Hepatitis C Virus .

HHS guidelines recommend that all people with HIV be tested for HCV, with those testing positive be considered for HCV treatment. CDC Recommendations for Hepatitis C Screening Among Adults — United States, 2020 recommend expanded screening for all individuals over 18 years of age and testing for various groups, including people with HIV.

Clinician Resources

HRSA’s HIV/AIDS Bureau has developed provider resources on hepatitis screening and treatment for use by Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) agencies. These and other tools are summarized on the AETC National Coordinating Resource Center’s (NCRC) viral hepatitis confection topic page . Highlights include the HIV/HCV Coinfection: An AETC National Curriculum  and the National HIV Curriculum’s Hepatitis C Coinfection  section.

The HIV/HCV Coinfection: An AETC National Curriculum includes HIV/HCV Co-infection Resources  for providers as well as patients and patient educators, like tools to engage patients in HCV care.

Hepatitis C and Planning – Incorporating Hepatitis C in Integrated HIV Prevention and Care Planning  is a webinar review of how select RWHAP jurisdictions are integrating hepatitis C services within their HIV care and prevention plans.

HCV/HIV Care Delivery

In addition to the AETC clinic-focused curricula and patient tools, HRSA’s work on HCV/HIV coinfection care also includes identification of innovative interventions. RWHAP agencies are also using HRSA performance and data monitoring guidance to measure efforts and efficacy in providing care to HIV/HCV co-infected individuals. These initiatives, and resulting technical assistance tools, can be found in our Hepatitis topic page . Highlights include:

• Hepatit is C Prescriber Toolkit , a directory of state-specific resources (prescribing restrictions, ADAP coverage, Medicare coverage) and contact information for all state programs.
• Curing Hepatitis C among People of Color Living with HIV . This SPNS initiative (2017-2020) focused on expanding a full array of services for HCV/HIV coinfected individuals, in collaboration with SAMHSA-funded substance abuse agencies. Among the products developed by the Curing Hepatitis C project were mobile apps for use by patients and staff (clinical and non-clinical) to educate clients and improve the patient/provider experience. See ConnQuer HepC and TACKLE Program  and download their apps.
• Jurisdictional Approach to Curing Hepatitis C among HIV/HCV Coinfected People of Color . This HRSA HCV SPNS initiative (2016-2019) focused on improving HCV services among HIV/HCV-coinfected people of color.
• Performance Measurement. The HRSA HIV/AIDS Bureau has a framework of resources to support RWHAP programs in monitoring the delivery of HIV care, inclusive of hepatitis. HAB’s Performance Measures are comprised of multiple sets, with an adolescent/adult set of measures that includes specific measures addressing hepatitis B screening and vaccination and hepatitis C screening.
• Data Monitoring . HRSA’s Ryan White Services Report, the RSR client-level data system , is used by RWHAP recipients and subrecipients to collect performance measure data on hepatitis B screening and vaccination as well as hepatitis C screening.

Listen to insights on hepatitis care from HRSA and front-line RWHAP agencies in a range of workshops  convened at the 2020 Ryan White Conference on HIV Care and Treatment.

This content originally appeared on HIV.gov. View the full article here.

The Indian Health Service is announcing five million dollars in funding for “Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. ” to support work toward the elimination of HIV and hepatitis C in Indian Country.

“At HHS, we continue to confront the HIV epidemic head-on by ensuring resources are focused on the communities and people who most need them,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “This funding will help us reach people in Indian Country and engage people who are disproportionately impacted by HIV.”

“We are excited about this new funding opportunity for Indian Country to address diagnosis, treatment and prevention activities that are aimed at eliminating disparities and reducing HIV’s impact,” said Acting Director Elizabeth Fowler. “We are committed to providing American Indians and Alaska Natives who are at risk, or are living with HIV, with the culturally-appropriate support and services they need.”

The funds include $2.48 million for three-year cooperative agreements for tribes, tribal organizations, and urban Indian organizations to support activities that address HIV/HCV and sexually-transmitted infections. The deadline for tribes, tribal organizations, and urban Indian organizations to apply for the funding is June 17, 2022.

Since the late 1980s, enormous progress has been made in the fight against HIV, but there is still work to be done. National interventions have reduced the number of new HIV infections, but not everyone is benefiting equally from these advances. New diagnoses are highly concentrated among men having sex with men; minorities, including American Indians and Alaska Natives; and those who live in the southern United States. Among people living with HIV, American Indians and Alaska Natives have the largest percentage of persons with undiagnosed HIV infection.

Stigma in Native communities can also be a debilitating barrier preventing someone living with HIV or at risk for HIV from receiving the health care services they need and deserve. IHS continues to address barriers for people living on Indian reservations and in other rural communities that limit opportunities for education and HIV testing.

In addition to the cooperative agreements, approximately $1.5 million will support clinical training, including funding for ongoing case-based training and technical assistance. Approximately $620,000 will support national infrastructure, and approximately $400,000 will support a national media campaign.

This funding comes in addition to the several Indian Health Service activities that are also supported by the Minority HIV/AIDS Fund, which has provided national-level programs like web-based youth education and prevention services, clinical training for HIV care, expansion of pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention, case management support for people living with HIV, support of National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, and indigenizing the National HIV/AIDS Strategy. In June 2021, the IHS distributed close to $10.5 million through this competitive funding opportunity.

The Biden Administration is also continuing its support of the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative within Indian Country. The president’s budget requests $52 Million in FY 2023 for IHS to treat or reduce the transmission of HIV and Hepatitis C.

The IHS, an agency in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, provides a comprehensive health service delivery system for approximately 2.7 million American Indians and Alaska Natives who belong to 574 federally-recognized tribes in 37 states.

This content originally appeared on HIV.gov. View the full article here.

The 2022 National Drug Control Strategy was released on April 21, 2022. Over the course of a year, it was developed through requests for written consultations from more than 2,000 external stakeholders, including the entirety of the U.S. Congress; all 50 Governors; and hundreds of advocates representing law enforcement, public health, and Tribal communities.

This new Strategy is the first ever to emphasize working directly with people who use drugs to prevent overdose and infectious disease transmissions, improve their physical, mental, and social wellbeing, and offer flexible options for accessing medical care and substance use treatment. This evidence-based approach builds trust and engagement with people at risk for an overdose and is known as harm reduction.

The Strategy breaks ground and proposes bold, targeted, and consequential actions to bend the curve on overdose deaths in the immediate term and reduce drug use and its consequences in the long term. These actions are grouped around eight thematic areas. Two of these action areas are highlighted below and are relevant to those working on HIV-related issues:

• Helping people who use drugs access the services they need to stay alive long enough to enter treatment, the Biden-Harris Administration will focus on three priority harm reduction interventions:
• Expanding access to the overdose reversal medication naloxone, which is a cost-effective tool that has the most potential to save lives today.
• Ensuring people who use drugs can access drug testing strips so they can detect the presence of fentanyl and other dangerous substances in their supply.
• Supporting syringe services programs that facilitate linkages to substance use treatment and prevent the spread of infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS and hepatitis.
• Supporting people with undiagnosed or untreated substance use disorders who too often end up interacting with the justice system, creating severe consequences for individuals, their families and communities and society. Furthermore, arrest and incarceration for crimes related to substance use and possession disproportionately affect Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities.

The National Drug Control Strategy aligns with the Administration’s emphasis on equity and breaks new ground by including a criminal justice chapter that directs agencies to ensure that non-violent offenders in incarcerated settings, as well as those who re-enter society do not overdose and instead have access to the continuum of services and support, thereby removing unnecessary barriers to treatment.

This Strategy also aligns with the National HIV/AIDS Strategy. For people experiencing substance use disorder and those at risk for and with HIV, these strategies call for effective programs, policies, and services to improve public health and end both the opioid and HIV epidemics.

For more information on the new National Drug Control Strategy, click here.

This content originally appeared on HIV.gov. View the full article here.

Every year, on April 10th,  National Youth HIV & AIDS Awareness Day (NYHAAD) provides an important opportunity to both reflect on accomplishments and chart the way forward. Taking stock of what our nation’s young people need this year is especially important as we’ve come to realize the true toll that the past two years have taken on their physical and mental health.

The data on HIV prevalence among young people tells us that about 20% or 1 in 5 new diagnoses occur in those aged 13 to 24 years and those rates tend to be higher among young men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women.¹ HIV-related data also tell us that approximately 44% of young people with HIV do not know they have the virus¹ and so are not receiving care for themselves or reducing their viral load to prevent further transmission. Among high school students, in 2019, only 9% had ever been tested for HIV.²

Data on health behaviors and experiences that put youth at risk for HIV present a more nuanced picture. Over the ten years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, sexual risk behaviors and high-risk substance use declined significantly, but condom use decreased significantly. More than 10% of female high school students reported that they had been sexually assaulted, a trend that has been unchanged for at least 10 years, and more students reported not going to school because of safety concerns. Finally, mental health, which had been moving in the wrong direction for a number of years, became even more concerning during the pandemic, particularly for LGBTQ youth.³

Acknowledging that there is more work to be done to support young people experiencing risk for or living with HIV, the National HIV/AIDS Strategy designates youth ages 13-24 as one of its priority populations.⁴ The Strategy calls for an enhanced focus on primary prevention for youth, increasing HIV testing, status awareness, and linkage to prevention or care services for youth, and improving viral suppression among youth with HIV. There are additional strategies that affect youth, including increasing the number of schools that have implemented LGBTQ-supportive policies and practices and increasing the number of schools providing on-site sexual health services. CDC will continue to do all it can to collaborate with federal and nonfederal partners to implement actions that improve HIV outcomes for youth and help the nation achieve the NHAS goals.

One of the primary ways we can support youth to prevent HIV is through their schools. Schools play a critical role in the primary prevention of HIV by providing young people with knowledge and skills through health education. They can also be an important bridge to needed HIV prevention services like condoms, HIV and STI testing, and PrEP. But one of the most important things that schools can provide is a sense of connectedness and belonging, and a safe space for all youth, including LGBTQ youth.

CDC’s What Works In Schools approach harnesses the power of schools to be places where youth can thrive. Our approach promotes quality health education, helps schools set up systems to connect youth to health services, and makes schools safer and more supportive by promoting activities to increase school connectedness and support for LGBTQ youth. 

We have seen that schools that implement the What Works In Schools approach demonstrate improvements among their students in reduced sexual risk, decreases in substance use, and are less likely to experience sexual assault or avoid going to school because of concerns about violence.⁵ In schools that implement policies and practices to support LGBTQ students, like creating or strengthening Gender and Sexuality Alliances (GSAs), identifying safe spaces, and having anti-harassment policies, we see not only better mental health and lower rates of suicide attempts among sexual minority students, but also fewer suicide attempts among heterosexual students.^{6, 7} Reducing behaviors and experiences that increase risk for HIV and STIs while also supporting our youth who need it most is a goal that is within our reach today.

On NYHAAD and every day, CDC joins with our partners to ensure that young people have every opportunity to stay safe, stay healthy, and stay well.  Help us promote NYHAAD by accessing our digital toolkit and downloading and sharing materials on social media using the #NYHAAD hashtag. Together we can help to ensure a healthy future for our young people.

¹ CDC. Diagnoses of HIV infection in the United States and dependent areas, 2019. HIV Surveillance Report 2021;32.

² CDC. Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 2019. MMWR Suppl 2020;69(1):1-83.

³ CDC. Youth Risk Behavior Survey: Data Summary & Trends Report: 2009-2019. Atlanta: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2020.

⁴ The White House. 2021. National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States 2022–2025. Washington, DC.

⁵ Robin L, Timpe Z, Suarez NA, Li J, Barrios L, Ethier KA. Local Education Agency Impact on School Environments to Reduce Health Risk Behaviors and Experiences Among High School Students. J Adolesc Health. 2022 Feb;70(2):313-321. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.08.004. Epub 2021 Sep 14. PMID: 34531096; PMCID: PMC8792165.

⁶ Kaczkowski W, Li J, Cooper AC, Robin L. Examining the Relationship Between LGBTQ-Supportive School Health Policies and Practices and Psychosocial Health Outcomes of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Heterosexual Students. LGBT Health. 2022 Jan;9(1):43-53. doi: 10.1089/lgbt.2021.0133. Epub 2021 Dec 17. PMID: 34935516.

⁷ Harper CR, Johns MM, Orenstein D, Pampati S, Jones TM, Leonard S, Taylor KR, Robin L. Association Between LGBTQ Student Nondiscrimination Laws in Selected States and School District Support for Gay-Straight Alliances. J Adolesc Health. 2022 Feb 11:S1054-139X(21)00678-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.11.032. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35165028.

CHIPTS Strategic Launch Meeting

On Monday, March 14, 2022, CHIPTS was honored to host 37 members, affiliates, and community advisory board representatives at the UCLA Luskin Conference Center for the CHIPTS Strategic Launch Meeting. The launch meeting was an opportunity to discuss innovative approaches to advance intersectional science in HIV and co-morbid psychosocial and structural conditions, and ways to elevate the Center’s impact for the new 5-year grant cycle. CHIPTS Director Dr. Steve Shoptaw provided the opening remarks, emphasizing the importance of taking risks, lifting up new, strong leaders in the field, and expanding the Center’s partnerships and reach both locally and globally.

Global HIV Prevention Science at CHIPTS

CHIPTS Global HIV Co-Director Dr. Pamina M. Gorbach moved the conversation forward by discussing the impactful work of CHIPTS scientists globally on the topics of PrEP, substance use, and STIs. Dr. Gorbach highlighted the importance of establishing collaborative networks among UCLA programs with existing global training opportunities, including CHIPTS, the Fielding School of Public Health, and the David Geffen School of Medicine, to expand global HIV prevention science. Group discussion centered on how to best use available funding mechanisms and leverage partnerships to elevate CHIPTS’ global work in the new grant cycle.

The State of HIV and STDs in Los Angeles County and Aligning with the Local Ending the HIV Epidemic Initiative

Dr. Shoptaw then welcomed Mario J. Perez, Director of the Division of HIV and STD Programs (DHSP), and Julie Tolentino, Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) Program Manager, from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to share the state of HIV and STDs in LA County and discuss local initiatives that target the national EHE goals.

Mr. Perez offered promising data showing an overall decline in the number of new HIV diagnoses in LA County while highlighting significant concerns regarding health disparities, retention in care rates, syphilis rates, and perinatal HIV transmissions. He noted that these issues are all exacerbated by intersecting health challenges (e.g. substance use, mental illness) and social and structural conditions. Ms. Tolentino then provided an update on the EHE Initiative in LA County, which takes an equity-oriented approach to addressing the HIV epidemic and related syndemics with a focus on disproportionately impacted communities including Black and Latinx populations. She defined several activities of focus under each EHE pillar (diagnose, treat, prevent, respond). Mr. Perez and Ms. Tolentino both emphasized a need to continue leveraging the partnership between DHSP and CHIPTS to support effective implementation of strategies and resources to address the HIV epidemic in LA County.

Brainstorming Solutions/Opportunities

CHIPTS Co-Director Dr. Raphy Landovitz facilitated the final portion of the meeting, which was dedicated to brainstorming solutions and opportunities to address local EHE needs and meet Center goals. Participants  were split up by core (methods, policy, combination prevention, and development/administrative) to respond to a set of guiding questions with actionable core-specific and cross-core recommendations. Community advisory board members were invited to share their ideas, discuss priorities, and consider roles they could play in connection with each core.

Each group discussion was led by the respective core’s leaders and focused on strategies to address challenges presented throughout the meeting, ways to increase diversity at the Center and within each core, and ways to align with and support the local EHE goals and priorities outlined by Mr. Perez and Ms. Tolentino. Additionally, cores discussed methods to enhance collaborative efforts with the UCLA Center for AIDS Research (CFAR), Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), and other partners.

Brainstormed strategies were written on poster paper and presented to all participants at the end of the activity. Participants were then invited to view all strategies brainstormed by each core and indicate their top priorities. This information will be used to inform core-specific and CHIPTS-wide activities moving forward.

View our mini-gallery featuring photos from the meeting.

This content originally appeared on UCLA Newsroom. View the full article here.

The National Institute of Mental Health has renewed its support for UCLA’s collaborative Center for HIV Identification, Prevention and Treatment Services, or CHIPTS, with a five-year, $7.5 million grant.

The center, made up of leading scientists from UCLA, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, the Friends Research Institute and the RAND Corp., has worked for 25 years to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic both locally and globally through scientific research and treatments, network building and collaborations with community and agency partners.

The new federal funding will support a research agenda aimed at reducing HIV transmission across Southern California, the nation and the world — in line with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s initiative to end the epidemic in the United States by 2030.

The grant program will be directed by Steven Shoptaw, a professor of family medicine and of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, where he is also vice chair of research in family medicine.

“This award is a testament to the unwavering commitment of our scientists and community partners,” Shoptaw said. “With this funding, we look forward to pursuing innovative, high-impact approaches to address the HIV epidemic and the conditions that drive it.”

Currently, approximately 38 million people globally and 1.2 million nationally are living with HIV, with about 35,000 new cases diagnosed each year in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Under the new grant, CHIPTS will guide a regional strategy for Southern California that aligns with the HHS national Ending the HIV Epidemic plan. The center will support research aimed at developing and improving multifaceted approaches to suppressing the virus in people already infected with HIV and preventing infections among at-risk populations, with a particular focus on those with mental health and substance use disorders and those who face social and structural barriers in accessing health care.

In these efforts, CHIPTS will work closely with scientific, community and public health partners while promoting efforts to improve diversity, equity and inclusion among the next generation of HIV investigators.

“The center plays a critical role in advancing HIV prevention science that innovates in combination prevention strategies and shifts policy to influence health outcomes,” said CHIPTS co-director Dr. Raphael Landovitz, a professor of medicine at the Geffen School. “We are extremely grateful for the opportunity to continue and expand our work in this next cycle.”

The National Institute of Mental Health is part of the National Institutes of Health.