As part of this year’s Unite to End the HIV and Viral Hepatitis Epidemics Chair’s Challenge, the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD) released another installment in a series of success stories collected from around the nation. This installment features programs from Alabama and Indiana and highlights their health department’s efforts to engage and retain Black men in prevention and care and treatment services.
- In Indiana, a strategic partnership between a one-stop shop medical home and a community based organization with an African American, HIV-related mission is underway to provide easily accessible services to Black men. These services, critical to maintaining engagement in care, include linkage to care, non-medical case management, and mental health, in addition to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) services. The program fills the gap between available medical and supportive services by providing individualized, long-term, one-on-one support for clients.
- Alabama developed a stigma reduction and HIV awareness raising social media campaign that utilizes YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. The video series, “Start Talking Alabama,” seeks to increase HIV awareness and decrease stigma by sharing prevention, testing, and treatment information, and supporting messages aimed towards young men of color via social media. Video topics have included the following: interviews with longtime survivors; advocacy; race and gender bias; and, dating, stigma, and love. Important discussions also center on PrEP and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP).
These programs illustrate how health departments may deliver care and treatment services and raise awareness about HIV in a manner that is responsive to the experience of Black men. Check out these success stories and be sure to view previously featured stories.
For more information about these initiatives, please contact Ann Lefert.
