The Centers for Disease Control announced this week that three Philadelphia community-based organizations were awarded new funding to deliver HIV-prevention initiatives to underserved populations.
AccessMatters, Mazzoni Center and Philadelphia FIGHT were among 90 CBOs nationwide — and the only in Pennsylvania — to receive a piece of the $216-million CDC funding. The funding supports efforts targeted at high-risk groups, including people of color, men who have sex with men, transgender individuals and injection-drug users.
For the first time, a new component of the funding allows for the creation of “prevention partnerships” among multiple CBOs, enabling them to pool resources.
“It’s clear that we need to focus our limited resources on strategies that can have the greatest possible impact,” said Dr. Eugene McCray, director of CDC’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention. “This funding targets local communities to help maximize the impact of every federal prevention dollar. By delivering powerful prevention tools where they’re needed most, we can have a transformative impact on the epidemic.”
FIGHT education director Juliet Fink Yates said her agency will receive about $700,000 per year for five years, which will be split with Prevention Point Philadelphia.
“Our plan is to address the epidemic among African-Americans, who are disproportionately burdened by the disease,” she said. “We are partnering with Prevention Point to reach the most high-risk African-Americans here in Philadelphia, including [men who have sex with men] and injection-drug users.”
Specifically, the organization is looking to provide rapid HIV testing to underserved populations in Southwest and Lower Northeast Philadelphia.
They also plan to “create a team of care navigators who link newly diagnosed positives to care. For people who test negative, we want to connect them to PrEP and other preventative medical services,” Fink Yates said.
AccessMatters president and CEO said they would be focusing on serving Latino men in both Philadelphia and Camden, NJ through a partnership with Congreso de Latinos Unidos and the Hispanic Family Center of Southern New Jersey
“We are honored to have the opportunity to collaborate with two stellar community-based organizations in Philadelphia and Camden to provide effective HIV prevention services in some of the most heavily impacted communities in our region,” said Gerber. “Our experience in HIV prevention through our community-based services work, mobile testing, and outreach complement our partners’ existing community efforts, allowing us to maximize the impact of these new CDC resources.”
Unique among AccessMatters’ prevention initiatives is a mobile app called “It Matters,” which is expected to launch this fall. The new app will include HIV prevention messaging and access to info about HIV testing and treatment services.
“Community-based organizations have been vital to our nation’s HIV-prevention efforts since the earliest days of the epidemic,” said Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and Tuberculosis Prevention. “The organizations we’re funding have a strong foothold in the hardest-hit communities. They have the credibility and experience needed to deliver the most effective HIV prevention strategies to those who need them most.”
According to the CDC, the funding is expected to boost the following four prevention strategies: providing HIV testing to those at high risk to increase the proportion of people who are aware of their HIV status; engaging HIV-positive people in ongoing care and treatment, helping them adhere to anti-retroviral therapy and ensuring they receive prevention and support services; ensuring high-risk, HIV-negative individuals have access to prevention and support services such as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), high-impact behavioral interventions and screening for sexually transmitted infections; and distributing condoms to HIV-positive and high-risk, HIV-negative individuals.
According to the CDC, Philadelphia and 49 other geographic areas represented the highest number of HIV diagnoses in 2011 and, thus, CBOs in these areas were targeted for the funding.
Recipients of the funding will be required to monitor program impact and behavioral outcomes. The CDC will also provide technical assistance and support to the organizations to help ensure they are meeting prevention goals.