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The County’s Role in Providing an HIV Care Continuum |
Counties—especially county health departments—play a key role in working side-by-side with federal, state and local partners to tackle the HIV epidemic and support a robust HIV care continuum. NACo partnered with Med-IQ to develop The County’s Role in Providing an HIV Care Continuum, a report that explores how counties can support HIV prevention, diagnosis, medical treatment and long-term care. The report features data from a recent NACo survey about county HIV services, as well as real-world perspectives and observations from county health officials.
This report highlights proven strategies to prevent and treat HIV infection that are key to ending the HIV epidemic. Key strategies include:
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Most people living with HIV who start taking Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) as prescribed achieve an undetectable level of HIV by approximately 6 months after beginning treatment; once the virus is undetectable, the person cannot sexually transmit HIV even if they have unprotected sex. This concept is known as “Undetectable = Untransmittable,” or “U = U.”
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Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a medication that people with an increased risk of HIV can take to prevent getting HIV from sexual activity or injection drug use. When taken as prescribed, PrEP reduces the risk of getting HIV from sex by about 99 percent and by at least 74 percent from injection drug use.
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In August 2021, NACo conducted a survey of 54 health officials from 58 counties across the U.S. about the HIV services they provide. The majority of survey respondents were county health department officials or county health care providers who work in HIV testing or treatment services. Key findings of the 2021 NACo survey include:
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More information and resources on this topic are available here.
Med-IQ empowers individuals at every level of the healthcare delivery system with the knowledge they need to continuously improve provider performance and patient outcomes. Med-IQ has delivered unique educational experiences and services across the country and around the world, has been extensively published, and is proud to be one of the most award-winning accredited medical education providers in the United States.
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