Infusion of Support for HIV Continuum of Care at DAP
Media Contact: Jack Bunting
jbunting@desertaidsproject.org
(760) 323-2118
Palm Springs, CA (October 8, 2020) – DAP Health Center just received a big boost for its work to dramatically reduce new HIV infections in the Coachella Valley, thanks to a $1,250,000 grant from the San Bernardino County Human Services Administration Ending the Epidemic Initiative.
Over the five-year grant period, DAP will help reach the initiative’s goal to significantly reduce new HIV infections by 75%.
This service delivery project will explore how much viral suppression outcomes are determined by improving linkage to care and retention in care.
It will closely follow DAP’s full HIV care continuum: testing, linkage into care after testing positive, being engaged in medical and mental healthcare, dentistry, social services, prescriptions access, and finally, documented viral suppression.
Drawing upon DAP’s current treatment protocols, and leveraging resources from the grant, work on this project will improve health outcomes for PLWHA. By cutting the time between diagnoses of HIV and entry into care, and making medication available quicker, less people will fall out of care. This also will decrease HIV transmission rates.
Despite COVID, reaching HIV testing and treatment targets for PLWHA remains an essential part of ending the HIV pandemic.
“If 90% of PLWHA begin antiretroviral treatment (ART) early enough, and they are consistently provided care, we will end HIV,” said David Brinkman, CEO.
Increasing viral suppression in our community is an important step in support of global efforts to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
UNAIDS 90-90-90 Initiative seeks to end HIV by reaching targets for testing, access to medication, and viral suppression.
About Ending the HIV Epidemic Initiative
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has launched Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America. The initiative aims to reduce new HIV infections in the U.S. by 90% by 2030. Ending the HIV Epidemic leverages critical scientific advances in HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and outbreak response by coordinating the highly successful programs, resources, and infrastructure of many HHS agencies and offices and providing a targeted infusion of new resources and support to the jurisdictions most heavily impacted.
About U=U & Prevention Access Campaign
Prevention Access Campaign is a health equity initiative to end the dual epidemics of HIV and HIV-related stigma by empowering people with and vulnerable to HIV with accurate and meaningful information about their social, sexual, and reproductive health. Find out more here.
Undetectable = Untransmittable (U=U) is a growing global community of HIV advocates, activists, researchers, and over 990 Community Partners from 102 countries uniting to clarify and disseminate the revolutionary but largely unknown fact that people living with HIV who are on treatment and have an undetectable viral load cannot sexually transmit HIV.
About UNAIDS 90-90-90
Increasing viral suppression in our community is in support of UNAIDS 90-90-90, the global plan to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
The goal is that globally,
90% of all people living with HIV will know their HIV status, and
90% of all people with diagnosed HIV infection will receive sustained antiretroviral therapy, and
90% of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression.
According to its 2020 update, “The response could be set back further, by 10 years or more, if the COVID-19 pandemic results in severe disruptions to HIV services.”
About DAP Health Center
DAP Health Center (DAP) in Palm Springs, CA offers medical, dental, counseling, social services, support groups, alternative therapies, in-house pharmacy and lab, and other health and wellness services. DAP’s sexual health clinic, The DOCK, offers STI testing and treatment, Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP), and HIV and HCV testing. DAP’s Get Tested Coachella Valley campaign, the nation’s first region-wide free HIV testing and access to care initiative, was recognized by the White House for helping to bring about an AIDS-free future. DAP has earned a “Four Star” rating from Charity Navigator for the twelfth consecutive year – landing DAP in the top 6% of nonprofits rated. The distinction recognizes that we exceed industry standards in terms of our financial health, accountability, and transparency.
Visit www.daphealth.org, www.thedockclinic.org, and www.gettestedcoachellavalley.org to learn more.
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