On October 29th, the HHS Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy hosted a quarterly stakeholder webinar on efforts to implement the Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America (EHE) initiative.

The webinar was designed to:

-Provide updates on major federal activities related to the implementation of the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative
-Highlight models of community engagement during COVID-19
-Answer questions from jurisdictional EHE stakeholders

A few highlights:

AHEAD Dashboard: OIDP and CDC have been working hand in hand to prioritize HIV data expediency and transparency. Additional data was made available on the dashboard including:

1. Preliminary 2020 cumulative quarterly data from January 2020 through June 2020 for diagnoses.
2. Preliminary 2020 cumulative quarterly data from January 2020 through March 2020 for linkage to HIV medical care

Ready, Set, PrEP: The program is launching the “I’m Ready” campaign featuring diverse stories of real people from a wide variety of backgrounds, who share their personal journey with PrEP. Ready, Set, PrEP is a nationwide program to increase access to free PrEP medications for individuals without prescription drug coverage.. More than 32,000 co-sponsoring pharmacies have come on board to support the program and mail order fulfillment is slated to begin by the end of the year.

CDC: The CDC awarded $109 million to accelerate progress in the fight to end the HIV epidemic in the U.S. Community engagement continues to be a priority for CDC and EHE.  Although engagement will have to remain virtual and socially distant due to the COVID-19
pandemic, the commitment to community engagement remains in place.

HRSA HAB: HRSA’s HIV/AIDS Bureau Associate Administrator Dr. Laura Cheever discussed lessons learned from community engagement activities in 2019-2020 and shared upcoming plans for virtual community engagement in 2021.  She also shared COVID-19 lessons to accelerate the EHE response.

Georgia Department of Public Health: Michelle Allen & Rev. William Francis discussed partnerships with faith-based organizations in the state of Georgia. Faith-Based Coalitions are encouraged to be inclusive and diverse (i.e. religious freedom; gender, LGBTQ+; race & ethnicity, etc.). In observance of National Faith HIV & AIDS Awareness Day, AFIA was established as an inter-faith council with representation from all EHE metro counties.

Tarrant County Public Health: Lonnetta Wilson, EHE Coordinator discussed the pre-planning and execution of the Tarrant County HIV taskforce.  She shared how the team adapted during COVID -19 to include virtual meetings, intentionally incorporate more community members, and utilize virtual platforms to communicate.

PAETC-NV: Jennifer Bennett, PhD, MPH discussed HRSA’s AETC program and best practices for community engagement for the Clark County Ending the HIV Epidemic Plan. Key strategies included a statewide EHE group that now hosts monthly virtual meetings. The group has amassed 60+ members representing over 30 organizations from state HIV offices, clinics, social services, educational groups, and more.  The team also facilitated a series of provider and community member focus groups and surveys to conduct the EHE needs assessment.

For more details please access the presentation slides (PDF, 3.3 MB) and recordingExit Disclaimer from this session.

I encourage all of you to watch my new weekly EHE updates on @HIV.gov on Twitter. Anyone can view them; no account needed. My goal is to quickly provide updates on the EHE initiative and related HIV news.

Follow the HIV.gov blog for details on the next EHE Quarterly Stakeholder webinar!

For more information about Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America, visit HIV.gov.