HIV Linkage to Care and Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Among Persons in Non–Health Care Sites Who Are Tested for HIV for the First Time, United States, 2019

Context: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all persons aged 13 to 64 years are tested for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). However, results from US surveys show that 50% of persons and less had ever tested for HIV. Program: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention annually funds 60 health departments to conduct comprehensive HIV prevention and surveillance activities that include HIV testing. Implementation: We selected the 31 health departments with quality data (ie, ≤20% missing or invalid values for variables to verify linkage to HIV medical care and new HIV diagnoses) in 2019. Main outcomes were new HIV diagnoses, linkage, and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) awareness and referrals. We used SAS 9.4 to conduct descriptive, chi-square, and multivariate regression analyses. Our objectives were to determine outcomes and characteristics of persons in non–health care settings who tested for HIV for the first time. Evaluation: Compared with persons who previously tested for HIV, persons who tested for the first time were more likely to be aged 13 to 29 years than aged 30 years and older (62.0% [24 295/39 192] vs 42.1% [61 911/147 087], P
Source: Journal of Public Health Management and Practice - Category: Health Management Tags: Research Reports Source Type: research