 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Cristina Booker, MPH1, Lamonte Powell, MPH2, Kirsten L. Husak, MSW3, Danielle German, MPH2, Kama Brockmann, PhD, LCSW4, Eilzabeth Davis5, Magdalena Esquivel, BA6, Michelle R. LLanas, BA7, Damaris A. Richardson, LSW8, and Michael Kaplan, MA9. (1) Public Health Applications and Research, Abt Associates Inc., 55 Wheeler Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, 617-349-2681, cristina_booker@abtassoc.com, (2) Behavioral Science and Health Education Dept., Emory University, Rollins School of Public Health, 1518 Clifton Rd. NE, Atlanta, GA 30322, (3) Abt Associates, Inc., 55 Wheeler St., Cambridge, MA 02138, (4) California Department of Health Services, Office of AIDS, 611 N. 7th Street, Sacramento, CA 95816, (5) San Francisco Department of Public Health, 25 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 500, San Francisco, CA 94102, (6) Planning and Development, Los Angeles Office of AIDS Programs and Policy, 600 S. Commonwealth Avenue, 6th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90005, (7) Wisconsin HIV/AIDS Program, 1 West Wilson Street, Room 318, Madison, WI 53701-2659, (8) Division of Health Communications, Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 500 N. Calvert Street 5th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21221, (9) Center for Community-Based Health Strategies, Academy for Educational Development, 1825 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20009-5721
An estimated 25% of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) are unaware of their serostatus and 33% of those aware of their serostatus are not receiving care (Fleming, 2002). Street and community outreach (SCO) and HIV Counseling and Testing (CTS) interventions are key entry points for the CDC/HRSA multisite Prevention for HIV Infected Persons Project (PHIPP), designed to increase PLWHA awareness of HIV serostatus, facilitate and maintain access to services, and reduce risk behavior.
Five health departments crafted innovative SCO and CTS strategies to identify PLWHA and link them to HIV prevention with positives programs. Over 18 months, many individuals have received SCO (21,748) and CTS (19,181) through targeted techniques including social marketing and social networking. Of SCO contacts, 60% sought CTS, 32% sought HIV prevention information, and 8% sought other programs such as prevention case management. Of CTS clients, 2.6% were HIV-positive, 71% of whom were newly identified HIV-positives. Condoms and safer sex kits (52%) and brochures (26%) were the most commonly distributed materials through SCO programs.
Locating clients to deliver HIV test results is a persistent barrier to identifying new HIV-positive persons and linking them to services. Rapid testing capabilities could reduce lengthy wait times for test results, which often deters reluctant potential clients. Brief and anonymous client recruitment during outreach interventions may attract clients but presents challenges to collecting evaluation data.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: HIV Interventions, Prevention
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.