ViiV Healthcare Expands HIV/AIDS Community Support in Hard-Hit Southern U.S.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Sept. 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- ViiV Healthcare announced today the first Positive Action Southern Initiative (PASI) grant awardees in Texas and Virginia and seven grant awards to current network members in Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Recipients could receive up to $50,000 per year for a provisional commitment over the next two years to support and expand existing programs focused on linking people living with HIV and at-risk populations into prevention and care services and/or enhancing their treatment adherence and delaying disease progression.

Award recipients include:

• San Antonio AIDS Foundation (SAAF), located in San Antonio, TX, will enhance their existing medical case management program through the provision of early intervention services. SAAF's early intervention specialist will collaborate with two HIV/AIDS medical clinics to identify those in need and link them to care and intensive case management. 
• International AIDS Empowerment, located in El Paso, TX, will expand the Vivamos! Program by adding a Retention in Care (RIC) component. The RIC Navigator will work with clinical partners and the Linkage to Care Coordinator to help coordinate comprehensive care through case management to directly address barriers to care for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA).
• AIDS/HIV Services Group (ASG), located in Charlottesville, VA, will expand the Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Resources and Linkages for Inmates (C.H.A.R.L.I.) Program to include mental health counseling for recently released PLWHA.   
• Basic NWFL, Inc., located in Panama City, FL, will expand its U R CONNECTED program to provide counseling, phone check-ins, support groups, and other face-to-face engaging strategies to link PLWHA to care and improve adherence.
• Big Bend Cares, Inc., located in Tallahassee, FL, will utilize funding to expand Project ACT (Assisting Clients to Treatment) that currently focuses on retention to care for African American men who have sex with men (MSM) to include white MSM and black heterosexuals, especially black women. The expansion will use Peer Navigators who will better serve women of color and white MSM through client counseling and adherence education.
• Rural Women's Health Project, located in Gainesville, FL, will continue the 'Let's Talk About It' (LTAI) women's HIV-positive Peer Advocate program, reaching HIV-positive women and female caregivers in the rural North Central Florida counties and helping them to remain in care. Funding will be used to develop new testimonial materials and a peer blog, as well as to expand the LTAI workshops into additional rural areas.
• Jacksonville Area Sexual Minority Youth Network, Inc. (JASMYN), located in Jacksonville, FL, will support linkages to HIV care, treatment retention, medication adherence, and adoption of risk reduction behaviors for HIV-positive young African American gay, bisexual and other young men who have sex with men (YSMSM) ages 13 - 23, though linkage coordination, case management, internal referrals to risk reduction programs, advocacy, and collaboration. 
• Nashville CARES, located in Nashville, TN, will enhance the IAMSTRONG peer-based health and adherence education and support for PLWHA by integrating the program model into the entire Nashville CARES services environment. The expansion will also include the creation of a CARES Cafe, a safe social space at the agency staffed by trained peers, where PLWHA can engage each other in discussions about proactive strategies for successful treatment adherence and management of HIV health needs.
• South Carolina HIV/AIDS Council, located in Columbia, SC, will utilize funding on the PHAROAH behavioral risk reduction intervention that targets predominately African American HIV-positive incarcerated men and is designed to increase their HIV knowledge, enrollment and adherence to HIV medical care and treatment, and reduce sexual risk taking behaviors post incarceration.
• Western North Carolina AIDS Project, located in Asheville, NC, will develop pilot telehealth sites to improve linkage to HIV care and treatment adherence in 14 rural counties in North Carolina.

"Over the past three years we've witnessed the power of innovative community programming as an effective way of providing strong HIV education, local hands-on support to the HIV community, and resources that greatly impact disease prevention in the Southern U.S.," said Bill Collier, Senior Vice President and General Manager North America, ViiV Healthcare. "We have seen the impressive results our partners on the ground have achieved thus far, and are excited to expand on this important work and build on the foundation that has been established by providing renewed funding as well as welcoming new organizations to the network."

This new expansion into Texas and Virginia now brings the program's mission of reducing disparities in HIV/AIDS care and treatment among disproportionately-affected African-American and Latino populations to a total of 10 Southern states – Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. The initiative reflects the White House National HIV/AIDS Strategy, which prioritizes directing resources to areas and populations that have the greatest need. The Southern United States is disproportionately impacted by HIV/AIDS, representing 45 percent of all new AIDS diagnosesⁱ, with new infection rates highest among African-American, followed by Latino populations.

In addition to receiving funding, grantees also become part of the Southern Initiative Network, a resource that supports grantees and grantee finalists through networking activities, including opportunities to share lessons learned with one another and with other community experts.

Established in 2010, the Positive Action Southern Initiative is a collaborative, community-focused program that supports HIV programs and services for underserved populations in the Southern region of the United States. With these latest grants, the Positive Action Southern Initiative has committed over $2.3M towards funding grassroots projects designed to address local gaps in care and services for people living with or at risk for HIV/AIDS in this hard-hit region.

Positive Action Southern Initiative Highlights, Achievements, and Lessons Learned Will Be Presented at the 2013 United States Conference on AIDS  

This month, highlights, achievements, and lessons learned from the first three years of the Positive Action Southern Initiative will be presented during a workshop at the 2013 United States Conference on AIDS (USCA). The workshop, titled "Bridging the Cascade: Lessons Learned from the Positive Action Southern Initiative," is meant to help expand the impact of the Southern Initiative by inspiring and educating not only PASI network members, but also other organizations and advocates involved in similar work.

"We are proud to be among the organizations that have consulted with ViiV Healthcare on this important initiative from the outset," said Cornelius Baker, Technical Advisor, Integrated Health Sciences, FHI 360, who will be moderating the workshop. "Linking people to care and keeping them connected to healthcare services is critical to our efforts to end HIV in the United States. The session at USCA will provide an opportunity to examine the accomplishments and challenges that various Southern Initiative member programs have encountered addressing the goals of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy and the treatment strategy. The workshop is another example of how the Positive Action Southern Initiative supports collaboration and information exchange across the region to make the HIV/AIDS response in the South more robust and impactful."

During the workshop, panelists will provide insights on implementing their programs among diverse at-risk populations (MSM, women, transgender populations, formerly incarcerated, and the homeless) in a variety of community settings in the South. The panelists include:

• Ayana Eady-Patterson, Social Services Coordinator for Housing Services, Union Mission, Savannah, GA
• Mark Johnson, Executive Director, Brotherhood Inc., New Orleans, LA
• Valerie Mincey, Executive Director, BASIC NWFL, Panama City, FL
• Lisa Diane White, Director of Programs, SisterLove, Inc., Atlanta, GA

The workshop will take place on Tuesday, September 10 from 2:30 - 4:30 p.m. CDT. Journalists registered at USCA are invited to attend the session. Phone interviews regarding the workshop and/or the new grants are also available.  

About ViiV Healthcare's Positive Action Program
The Southern Initiative is part of the broader Positive Action program that has empowered community organizations in Africa, Europe, Latin America, and Asia. ViiV Healthcare is committed to building on the success of the global program with efforts to support projects in the United States that address areas of greatest need.

When Positive Action was created in 1992 it was the first pharmaceutical company program of its kind to support communities affected by HIV and AIDS. The program targets its funds towards community-focused projects that reach those most affected by HIV, particularly in marginalized or vulnerable populations. These include youth, women and girls, sex workers, injection drug users, MSM, the incarcerated, transgender individuals, and gay men. Positive Action works to build capacity in these communities to enable them to tackle stigma and discrimination, to test innovations in education, care and treatment, and to deliver greater and meaningful involvement of people living with HIV.

For more information about Positive Action, please visit: http://www.viivhealthcare.com/community-partnerships/the-viiv-healthcare-effect.aspx.  

About ViiV Healthcare  

ViiV Healthcare is a global specialist HIV company established in November 2009 by GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) dedicated to delivering advances in treatment and care for people living with HIV. Shionogi joined as a 10% shareholder in October 2012. The company's aim is to take a deeper and broader interest in HIV/AIDS than any company has done before and take a new approach to deliver effective and new HIV medicines, as well as support communities affected by HIV. For more information on the company, its management, portfolio, pipeline and commitment, please visit www.viivhealthcare.com.

ⁱ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. HIV and AIDS in the United States by Geographic Distribution. Accessed January 10, 2013 from http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/factsheets/geographic.htm. and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. HIV in the United States: At A Glance. Accessed January 10, 2013 from http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/factsheets/us.htm.

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SOURCE ViiV Healthcare