Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Part D Coordinated HIV Services and Access to Research for Women, Infants, Children, and Youth (WICY) Grant uri icon

abstract

  • ? Project Title: FY 2017-2022 Part D Application ? East Carolina University ? 2200 South Charles Blvd, 2907 Greenville Centre, Room; Greenville, NC 27858 ? Project Director: Nada Fadul ? Phone: 252-328-9535, Fax: 252-328-4363 ? E-mail Address: osp@ecu.edu, keyesa@ecu.edu ? Web Site Address: http://www.ecu.edu/cs-dhs/internalmed/Infectious-Disease.cfm The East Carolina University HIV program (ECUHIVP), through the continued funding of RWPD, including funding under the Minority AIDS Initiative, is the primary provider of a comprehensive model of HIV medical care to the mostly minority, rural population in eastern North Carolina (ENC) since the 1980s. ECUHIVP is located in Greenville, NC and is a "one-stop shop" for the provision of primary HIV medical care and other core medical and supportive services to a population with a demonstrated burden of HIV/AIDS disease. ECUHIVP is the only RWPD funded program in ENC and provides HIV care and support services to HIV positive women older than 25 years of age, infants between 0 months and 2 years, children between 2 and 13 years, and youth 13-24 years (WICY). Between 2014 and 2016, ECUHIVP provided services to approximately 610 WICY living with HIV. Currently, our program's overall viral load suppression (VLS) and retention in care (RIC) among WICY is 84% and 80%, respectively. Support from this funding opportunity would provide services to WICY in the mostly rural counties of Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Craven, Currituck, Dare, Duplin, Edgecombe, Gates, Greene, Halifax, Hertford, Hyde, Jones, Lenoir, Martin, Nash, Northampton, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Pitt, Tyrell, Washington, Wayne, and Wilson. ECUHIVP has identified that 40% out of 738 PLWHA in our region have unmet health needs (out-of-care) and have several challenges in linkage and retention of women and youth in care, such as lack of HIV testing availability, lack of transportation to health services, lack of health literacy, lack of support services; and stigma. RWPD funding will be used to address several gaps and barriers by developing and implementing programs to contact hard to reach populations for HIV education and prevention. Major objectives for the project period include the following: providing comprehensive HIV heath care to WICY living with HIV in ENC, increasing access to care in an effort to support linkage and retention in care for HIV positive WICY, implementing an evidence-informed intervention for youth (e.g., STYLE), reducing HIV-related health disparities and inequities for WICY by implementing evidence-informed interventions to those most disproportionately impacted by HIV disease, and working collaboratively with prevention partners in our HIV network to promote HIV testing and linkage to HIV care for those newly HIV diagnosed or those re-engaging back into care. Quality improvement projects for the next funding cycle will continue to direct our VLS and RIC toward populations with the greatest demonstrated need: Black women and young Black men.

date/time interval

  • August 2021 - July 2022