In addition, in the letter ViiV stated it would no longer accept new Patient Assistance Program (PAP) applications for the products listed above after 07/01/22.
For any questions or concerns, please contact the ViiV Healthcare Customer Response Center at 1-877-844-8872.
For more information, please contact Bella González
Cell: (703)-413-1100 x5793
Email: igonzale@rand.org
Read an official message from the RAND Corporation below:
“We are a team of researchers, HIV care providers, and provider training experts from the RAND Corporation, California Prevention Training Center, and Brigham & Women’s Hospital. We are conducting a study to develop and pilot test an HIV care provider training to understand and address the impact of stigma and medical mistrust experienced by Black and Latinx consumers/patients. This research is funded by the National Institute of Health, and the study protocol has been approved by RAND’s Institutional Review Board.
If you are an HIV care providers (e.g., physician, nurse practitioner, physician assistant) who works with a substantial number of Black and Latinx HIV care consumers or patients, we would like to invite you to participate in our study and provide feedback to improve this training. The tentative dates are in mid-January 2023 (e.g., potentially during the week of 1/9) and the participation would be remote/virtual. The total time would be about 4 hours for the virtual training (via Zoom) and there will be a phone interview (45-60 min) to provide qualitative feedback and suggestions for improvement. We may schedule a long session of 4 hours or break it up into two sessions, whichever would be most convenient/manageable. Your feedback would be used to refine and improve this provider training. You will be compensated $200 for participating in the training and interview. The training will be conducted by expert trainers from California Prevention Training Center; the interview will be conducted by RAND researchers.
Your participation in the training session(s) and interview are completely voluntary. We will not identify you in any way in any of our research presentations, papers, or reports. The information you provide to us during your participation will be kept confidential. If you are interested in participating, our research staff contacting you will review this information with you at the beginning of the training and interview and can answer any questions that you have at those times.
Please enter your contact information in this Google Form here if you are interested in participating in this study. If so, we will work with you to identify a convenient time to proceed with the next steps. Please feel free to contact us to ask any questions you may have about any aspects of this study. Our study contact is Dr. Lu Dong (ldong@rand.org, 310-486-1847).
Thank you for helping with this important project.”
Each year, HIV.gov recognizes National Influenza Vaccination Week (NIVW) to help raise awareness about the importance of flu vaccination for the HIV community. Observed December 5–9 this year, NIVW is a nationwide call to action to encourage everyone 6 months and older to get their annual flu shot, especially young children and others at higher risk. The more people vaccinated against flu, the more people are protected from flu.
Vaccination is particularly important for people who are at higher risk of developing serious flu complications, including young children. Millions of children get sick with flu every year, and thousands will be hospitalized. Since flu viruses are constantly changing and protection from vaccination decreases over time, getting a flu vaccine every year is the best way to prevent flu. Flu vaccines are the only vaccines that protect against flu and are proven to reduce the risk of flu illness, hospitalization, and death.
Vaccination in December or later is still beneficial, particularly as fluactivity is high and continues to increase across the country. Vaccines are particularly important for people who are most vulnerable to developing serious flu complications, including people with HIV—especially those with very low CD4 counts or who are not on treatment—and other health conditions. In fact, in past flu seasons, 9 out of 10 adults hospitalized for flu had at least one underlying medical condition.
Many Vaccine Options
For the 2022–2023 season, CDC recommends use of any licensed, age-appropriate flu vaccine. These include:
There are many flu vaccine options, and CDC does not recommend any one vaccine over another. Different vaccines are approved for different groups of people.
Flu shots also are recommended for pregnant people and people with certain chronic health conditions.
The nasal spray flu vaccine is approved for people from age 2 to 49 who are not pregnant. People who are pregnant and people with certain medical conditions should not receive the nasal spray flu vaccine.
Getting a flu vaccine is the best way for everyone to protect themselves and their loved ones from flu. Join the nationwide call to action with resources, messages, and activities from CDC’s Digital Media Toolkit and join the conversation online with #FightFlu.
On World AIDS Day, many of our federal partner agencies highlighted new resources and key messages. We believe you’d benefit from knowing what our colleagues shared. Read to learn more about these new resources and key messages and see our roundup of World AIDS Day blogs from HIV.gov at the end.
Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) – HIV/AIDS Bureau
HRSA’s Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) recognized World AIDS Day with a commemoration event, created a social media thread (#HRSAHonorsWAD), and shared new 2021 data, which shows a recording-breaking 89.7% (PDF, 636KB) of HRSA RWHAP clients are virally suppressed. Read the letter to RWHAP Colleagues here and see a video from Associate Administrator Laura Cheever here.
Department of Justice
On World AIDS Day, the Department’s Civil Rights Division reaffirmed its commitment to protecting the rights of people with HIV and AIDS via civil rights laws, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act. Read the full statement here in which the Department highlights these efforts.
HUD Deputy Secretary Statement
Adrianne Todman, Deputy Secretary at HUD, released a statement in recognition of World AIDS Day which highlights the importance the role housing plays in the health of those with HIV and AIDS. The statement details the actions HUD has taken to improve the lives of this community, including actions in support of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy such as ensuring racial and LGBTQ+ equity in access to HOPWA housing and services. Read the full statement here.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) – Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA)
As the Department’s HOPWA program celebrates its 30th anniversary and its important work utilizing housing as a structural intervention to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic, its World AIDS Day statement highlights the importance of housing in improving health outcomes for people with HIV and in ending the epidemic* (see below). Read the full statement here.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
In its World AIDS Day statement, the Administration reaffirmed its commitment to helping end the HIV epidemic in the United States by reaching those communities disproportionately affected by HIV through equity and innovation. The statement details SAMHSA’s grant programs for people at risk for and with HIV and centering equity within their HIV response. Read the full statement here.
Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
The Office’s World AIDS Day statement emphasizes efforts to advance health equity and social determinants of health using information technology (IT). The statement also explores health IT standards to support interoperable health information exchange across HIV care settings. Read the full statement here.
National Institutes of Health– Office of AIDS Research
The World AIDS Day virtual event, “Progress and Promise in HIV Research” featured federal leaders and distinguished guests from various sectors, including the broader HIV research community. Admiral Rachel L. Levine, M.D., the Assistant Secretary for Health at the Department of Health and Human Services, delivered opening remarks, and the diversity of the event’s panelists illustrated work to enhance public-private partnerships and the commitment to a whole-of-society approach to end the HIV epidemic. Read more about the event here.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
*Ending the HIV epidemic in the United States requires implementing integrated solutions that address the comprehensive health, social services, and housing needs of people with HIV and people who could benefit from HIV prevention. This issue brief highlights how CDC, other federal agencies, and community partners are collaborating to equitably address housing and HIV care needs. Read the brief here.
This year’s theme for World AIDS Day is “Putting Ourselves to the Test: Achieving Equity to End HIV.” It encourages people to unite globally to eliminate the disparities and inequities that create barriers to HIV testing, prevention, and access to HIV care. First observed in 1988, World AIDS Day is a day to unite to help end HIV and remember those lost to AIDS-related illnesses.
Four decades into the HIV response, inequalities persist for the most basic services like testing, treatment, and condoms, and even more so for new technologies.
This #WorldAIDSDay, let’s unite to end the inequalities holding back the end of HIV/AIDS.
A Reflection from our Principal Investigators, Prescott Chow, MUP, and Monica Hahn, MD, MPH, MS, AAHIVS
“Each year, World AIDS Day allows us a space to commemorate and honor those we’ve lost to HIV/AIDS, while also affording us an opportunity to reflect on the progress we’ve made, lessons learned and challenges ahead. Forty+ years after the first AIDS cases were identified, we find ourselves in the midst of intersecting pandemics and unacceptable inequities which have persisted for decades. Today we recognize the collective challenges we still face. No doubt we have made much progress; we have highly effective HIV medications for prevention and treatment. We’ve made huge strides in medical technology in the last few decades, and that is NOT what’s holding us back in ending the epidemic. Let’s be crystal clear – systemic oppression in the forms of racism, poverty, homophobia, transphobia, stigma, and criminalization are what is holding us back – especially for people who hold multiple oppressed identities.
This year’s theme, ‘Putting Ourselves to the Test: Achieving Equity to End HIV,’ speaks to this truth. This theme resonates deeply with our values and vision for our work at THE Collaborative, including at our Pacific AETC and the Care and Wellbeing Center programs. On this World AIDS Day and every day, we reflect on how we can recognize, disrupt, and repair systems that perpetuate harm and inequity, and how we are centering communities most impacted and most marginalized in our everyday work. We recognize that anti-oppression and anti-racism are central to our work in the world of HIV prevention, treatment, capacity building, training and education, and it is our duty to interrogate and critique systems of oppression and how they operate to produce and maintain the inequities we see in the HIV landscape. It is with great gratitude and optimism that we engage in our work with a mission-driven team with collective hopes and dreams for future directions to advance and achieve health equity for all.
Everyone deserves access to quality HIV services. Let’s make it happen together.”
Monica Hahn, MD, MPH, MS, AAHIVS and Prescott Chow, MUP
Training & Health Equity (THE) Collaborative Principal Investigators
Our History: Pacific AETC
The Pacific AIDS Education & Training Center (Pacific AETC) is a member of a national AIDS Education & Training Center network of eight regional and two national centers, covering all 50 states as well as US Territories and Jurisdictions.
In October 1987, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Bureau of Health Professions, under the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), established the AIDS Education & Training Center (AETC) Program to build the HIV clinical workforce in the United States. In the early days of the AETC, there were two Centers that served the Pacific region: the AETC for Southern California (led by the University of Southern California) and the Western AETC (led by the University of California, Davis). In the mid-90s, with encouragement from HRSA, the two Centers solidified. The University of California, San Francisco (where the Western AETC was housed) would lead the new entity, now known as Pacific AETC.
The AETC program continues to evolve and Pacific AETC continues to be at the forefront of practice and innovation. This includes highlighting emerging science and healthcare innovation, and our commitment to health equity. While the programming has evolved over the 30+ years of the AETC program, much of the work remains ongoing, urgent, and life-saving: ensuring healthcare professionals have the clinical and programmatic knowledge and skills needed to support care for people with or affected by HIV.
35th Anniversary of the AETC Program
Learn about the AETC network’s 35 years of supporting the HIV care community. The following video celebrates the program’s history, accomplishments, and milestones in response to the HIV epidemic since 1987:
Resources
HIV affects everyone. This World’s AIDS Day, let’s help #StopHIVStigma. Everyone, everywhere must have access to health and HIV services without fear of stigma, discrimination and criminalization. Access the CDC’s Stigma Language Guide to learn how to talk about HIV in a way that is not stigmatizing.
To honor this year’s theme of equity, we’ve compiled some of Pacific AETC’s stigma and racial equity trainings.
PrEP Ready! Community of Practice: Building your Community’s HIV Prevention Capacity with a Health Equity Lens (On-Demand)
PrEP Ready! Community of Practice is a peer-to-peer EHE learning community to strengthen equitable PrEP programming at FQHCs. This session was presented by members of the West Region CDC Capacity Building Assistance Providers from California Prevention Training Center, Denver Prevention Training Center, and San Francisco Department of Public Health – Center for Learning and Innovation.
HIV Learning Network – HIV and Harm Reduction: A Cultural Approach (Upcoming)
Description: Harm reduction strategies help to lessen the harms associated with drug use and related behaviors to increase the risk of HIV infection. Harm reduction plays a significant role in preventing drug-related deaths and offering access to treatment, social services, and healthcare. Current narratives around harm reduction and recovery are dominated by a white lens, depicting white communities as the most vulnerable victims of the current opioid crisis. From 2015 – 2020, there was a 213% increase in overdose death rates for Black men – the largest increase experienced by any demographic group (Black Harm Reduction Network). In this session, Dr. Gigi Simmons will explore the history of HIV and harm reduction in the Black community, and examine how the media portrayal of HIV and harm reduction shape our views of how we approach harm reduction with Black people with HIV.
HIV Learning Network – HIV Stigma & LBGT Communities (On-Demand)
Description: LGBT Communities are disproportionately affected by HIV. Men who have sex with men and transgender people experience stigma and discrimination that can negatively affect their engagement and retention in HIV care and prevention services. In this session, Shawn Demmons, MPH, will discuss and define the different types of stigma that affect these communities and the impact that stigma has on these communities, and discuss strategies to reduce stigma on a intrapersonal, communal and organizational level.
Understanding the Impact of the Structural Racism on Clinical Care: Lessons from HIV and COVID-19 (On-Demand)
Description: In order to understand how health inequities in various chronic disease such as HIV and SUD occur, it is necessary to examine their associations with longstanding structural racism. This on-demand course will provide an overview of structural racism in the context of the clinical care and review what lessons have ben learned from the HIV and COVID-19 pandemics that can inform future work, and help to interrogate systems and structures which perpetuate structural racism in order to take steps to move toward providing services with an anti-oppression and anti-racism lens. Presented by THE Collaborative Principal Investigator, Monica Hahn, MD, MPH, MS, AAHIVS.
HIV Learning Network – Culturally-Based Programs to Improve Engagement and Health Outcomes: Addressing Stigma for Native Hawaiian with HIV (On-Demand)
Presented by Malulani Orton, Native Hawaiian Medical Case Manager, Hawai’i Health & Harm Reduction Center.
New: PrEP Ready! Community of Practice Past Sessions Available
PrEP Ready! CoP is a peer-to peer EHE learning community to strengthen equitable PrEP programming at FQHCs in the Pacific Region. Sessions are created to help to enhance the various aspects required to offer successful PrEP delivery services with a health equity lens. While PrEP Ready! CoP session are only open to FQHCs in EHE jurisdictions in the Pacific Region, we believe all healthcare organizations offering PrEP can find the materials developed useful.
Below is a list of past session with registration links to view the archived recordings, slides, PrEP implementation tools, and other materials developed for each session. Click on each title to register!
Recommendations for patient evaluation, screening, and shared decision making when considering prescribing CAB/RPV.
Implementation tools such as sample checklists, protocols, and resources available to aid in the implementation of offering CAB/RVP in healthcare settings.
Each year, HIV.gov recognizes 
