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HIV Testing in Hospital Emergency Departments
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On April 9, 2010, representatives from hospital emergency departments, health departments and federal partners met to discuss ways to strengthen HIV testing efforts in hospital emergency departments. The facilitated discussion was designed to clearly delineate the role of public health agencies in the implementation of HIV testing in emergency departments; identify the benefits of collaboration between hospitals and health departments in implementing HIV testing; identify challenges and facilitators to implementation; and suggest “best practices” associated with the development and implementation of emergency department-based HIV testing. Bernard Branson, M.D., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, provided an outline for “The Future of ED Testing.” Each health department/emergency department team also presented a brief summary of their existing testing program and their strategies for moving forward. A report of the proceedings from the meeting will be released in Summer 2010. This educational activity was supported by an independent educational grant from Tibotec Therapeutics.
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NASTAD and NCSD Statement of Urgency on Crisis Among Gay Men
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At its 2010 Annual Meeting, the NASTAD membership unanimously approved issuing a statement of urgency about the HIV and STD crisis among gay men. In conjunction with the National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD), NASTAD released this statement at a Congressional briefing on June 24, 2010. Read the statement of urgency and the commitment of NASTAD and NCSD members to address the crisis.
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National HIV/AIDS Strategy
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The Obama Administration released the National HIV/AIDS Strategy on July 14, 2010. NASTAD sent a letter to Jeff Crowley, Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy at the White House, about the newly released strategy. In the letter, NASTAD congratulated Crowley and the Obama Administration for the successful launch of the strategy and stated, "As major implementing partners in this plan, NASTAD members are eager to engage in a meaningful, sustained and dynamic relationship that ensures the strategy maintains credibility, accountability and ultimately proves successful in meeting the goals of the Strategy."
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National HIV Prevention Inventory
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NASTAD and the Kaiser Family Foundation partnered to produce this report that offers a baseline picture of how HIV prevention is delivered across the country. The report is based on a survey of 65 health departments, including all state and territorial jurisdictions and six CDC directly funded U.S. cities and provides a comprehensive inventory of HIV prevention efforts at state and local levels.
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Black Women and HIV/AIDS: Findings from the Southeast Regional Consumer and Provider Focus Group Interviews
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Black Women’s Issue Brief No. 2 provides qualitative data from Southeast regional focus groups that occurred from April to August 2009. Particular attention is given to the voice of women living with and affected by HIV/AIDS to provide a clear and fresh perspective on issues and suggestions for health departments to consider when designing, targeting and implementing culturally relevant programs or interventions for black women.
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NASTAD Prevention Policy Agenda
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On November 29, 2007, NASTAD introduced a Prevention Policy Agenda to accompany its newly-released Blueprint, which includes recommendations for federal funding increases and expansion of core HIV/AIDS programs and services at the state and local levels.
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A New Blueprint for the Future: Ending the Epidemic Through the Power of Prevention
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In April 2008, NASTAD released a revised version of A New Blueprint for the Nation: Ending the Epidemic Through the Power of Prevention, along with a companion policy agenda. The Blueprint provides guideline for state and territorial health departments for ensuring they have the financial, political and programmatic resources necessary and in place to meaningfully scale up domestic HIV prevention efforts for the future.
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¡Adelante! Strengthening the Response to HIV/AIDS and Viral Hepatitis in Latino Communities
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Building on NASTAD’s 2003 policy document entitled Addressing Latino HIV/AIDS: Latino Perspectives and Policy Recommendations, NASTAD released this Call to Action at the 2008 National Latino AIDS Awareness Day (NLAAD) Congressional Briefing in Washington, DC. With this Call to Action, NASTAD reaffirms its commitment to providing a comprehensive approach to addressing health disparities among Latino communities and urges health departments, national organizations, federal partners, and key community-based organizations and leaders to scale up efforts to fight the HIV/AIDS and viral hepatitis epidemics in Latino communities. The Call to Action provides a clear understanding of the complex factors that contribute to increased rates of HIV and viral hepatitis in Latino communities and recommends targeted and tailored efforts that respond to these critical challenges. ¡Adelante! en Español
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Presentations from NASTAD's TA Meeting on Reaching Gay Men Using the Internet
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NASTAD held a technical assistance meeting, in conjunction with the National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD), focusing on reaching gay men using the internet. Twelve jurisdictions (California, Chicago, the District of Columbia, Florida, Houston, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York City, New York State, San Francisco and Texas) participated in the meeting, held in Alexandria, VA on March 29-31, 2009. NASTAD and NCSD will use information from this meeting to tailor technical assistance and support and to better advocate on behalf of health department and community programs committed to this very important topic. The meeting agenda and presentations from the meeting are available on the Resource Materials section of the HIV Prevention page on NASTAD's website.
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El Plan Para el Futuro (HIV Prevention Blueprint in Spanish)
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Los Estados Unidos esta en crisis. La nueva estimación de la incidencia del VIH de los Centros para el Control y Prevención de Enfermedades (CDC) exige que los esfuerzos de prevención del VIH se unifiquen en torno a una estrategia común y sean ampliados para contrarrestar la situación de emergencia que nos enfrentamos. Como líderes de la nación en la lucha contra el VIH/SIDA, nosotros, los programas de prevención del VIH de los departamentos de salud, ofrecemos a la nación un nuevo Plan Para el Futuro. Al construir sobre los éxitos de los programas de prevención de la nación, estamos convencidos de que los Estados Unidos puede cambiar el rumbo de la epidemia del VIH/SIDA.
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Expanded HIV Testing Report
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In September 2007 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funded 23 jurisdictions through program annoucement PS07-768 Exapnded and Integrated Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Testing for Populations Disporortionately Affected by HIV Primarily African Americans, or the "Expanded Testing Initiative." CDC's stated goals of the program are to achieve 1.5 million tests and to identify 20,000 newly reported cases of HIV infection annually, with 80 percent of those tests taking place in clincial settings such as hospital emergency departments, community health centers and correctional health care systems. The funded jurisdictions,including two additional ones that received funding in 2008, are charged with developing innovative and creative programmatic approaches, including the use of rapid HIV tsting technologies to ensure that HIV-positive persons received their test results and establishing routine testing as standard across health care services.In addition to providing background on the expanded testing intiative, this report highlights the findings of a survey that NASTAD conducted with the funded jurisdictions in December 2008. It also highlights notable examples of implementation successes and challenges and offers recommendations for next steps.
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NASTAD Press Release Regarding CDC's Revised HIV Incidence Estimates
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NASTAD issued a press release on August 2, 2008 in reaction to the release of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) revised HIV incidence estimates. Using new technologies to estimate HIV incidence, CDC now estimates that 56,300 new infections occurred in the U.S. in 2006, a number significantly higher than the previous estimate of 40,000 - a less precise count that had remained static for over a decade. The original release is published in the August 6, 2008 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). NASTAD's Prevention Policy Agenda and background document Prevention Blueprint (see links below) provide concrete recommendations for addressing the HIV epidemic in the U.S. In addition, NASTAD's Executive Director, Julie Scofield, co-authored an op-ed in the Baltimore Sun with Dr. David Holtgrave, calling on renewed efforts in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the United States.
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Report on the Survey to Assess the Impact of Withdrawal of the HIV Oral Fluid Assay -- August 2007
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Continuing efforts to make available important information and tools to support HIV testing, NASTAD has released a Report on the Survey to Assess the Impact of Withdrawal of the HIV Oral Fluid Assay. This report assesses the impact of the discontinuation of bioMérieux production of their HIV-1 serum and oral fluid Vironostika enzyme immunoassay (EIA) platforms in 2007. The report highlights health department plans for oral fluid HIV testing in light of the withdrawal of these products and the potential impact on HIV testing programs. NASTAD will use the findings to identify key areas for education and technical assistance across health departments and to identify important areas of advocacy with federal partners and the diagnostic manufacturers.
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2007 Report on Findings from an Assessment of Health Department Efforts to Implement HIV Screening in Health Care Settings
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NASTAD conducted this assessment to gain a better understanding of HIV testing programs at the state and local level. The report, released June 26, 2007, provides an in-depth analysis of the current legal and regulatory environments for HIV testing within states, current state and local health department efforts to support HIV screening in health care settings, and future state and local health department plans for implementation and/or expansion of HIV screening in health care settings. The report also examines the influence of the CDC's Revised Recommendations for HIV Testing of Adults, Adolescents and Pregnant Women in Health Care Settings on health department efforts to implement HIV screening.
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Evidence-Based Interventions: Issues and Priorities for Health Departments -- April 2006
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This issue brief explains the importance of EBIs in the prevention portfolio. It includes recommendations towards the goal of a long-term national plan in support of EBIs. It also includes profiles from several states that describe the implementation, adaptation and tailoring, training, and monitoring and quality assurance processes for EBIs in those states.
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