HJNO Nov/Dec 2022

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS  I  NOV / DEC 2022 53 Christopher Daunis Director of HIV, HCV, and STI Services Access Health Louisiana DISSEMINATING public health messages has always been a challenge. Just last year, I was meeting with my team at a previous place of employment, and they were voic- ing their frustration with people not wear- ing their masks correctly. We worked in the prevention department of a local FQHC. These individuals had been in the HIV field for two to three years, it was COVID, and we were exhausted. Up to this point, they had only worked with HIV and STI programming at the agency. As if that was not enough, COVID happened, and they were asked to switch gears. They needed to use some of the same techniques learned through HIV outreach to get the COVID message out. I heard their frustrations, but I asked them to step out of their public health mind frame for a second and con- sider this. As an HIV community, we have been working to disseminate information on safer sex practices for 40 years. Today, we have the science that provides us with the tools to practically eliminate HIV, but we still have people in our communities contracting the virus every day. So, I asked them, “if we are not getting the HIV pre- vention message out clearly, then why do you think that the COVID message is?” From that point on, I asked the team to think about that in all the work that they do. “How can we get our public health messages out to the community better?” December 1 of every year is World AIDS Day. It is traditionally a day of remem- brance of thosewe have lost toAIDS —what we now call Stage 3 HIV. We call the names of individuals who have passed, light can- dles, and construct beautiful quilts so that their names are never forgotten. This is still done all over the world, along with events to celebrate how far we have come. In New Orleans, we use this time to highlight the amazing programs in our toolkit that help those living with and without HIV to be healthier individuals. This toolkit con- sists of scientifically proven ways to stop the transmission of the virus. The more traditional pieces of this toolkit are absti- nence, using condoms, rapid HIV testing, and avoiding sharing needles. As we pro- gressed over the years, we were able to add antiretroviral therapy (ART) medicine and have proven that if taken every day a per- son can become undetectable. Meaning, they are not able to transmit the virus; un- detectable equals untransmittable (U=U). This is also called treatment as prevention (TasP). Other biomedical interventions such as PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis), taking a high dose of antiretrovirals with- in 72 hours of a suspected exposure, and PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis), taking ART as a pill or shot prior to sexual activity can reduce the risk of acquiring the virus. At Access Health Louisiana, we strive to integrate pieces of the toolkit such as rap- id HIV testing at our clinics and with our at-home testing program, PrEP, TasP, and providing same-day ART for those newly diagnosed. We have come a long way in reducing the transmission of HIV; however, the work is not done. On Sept. 29, 2022, the Loui- siana Health Alert Network (LA HAN) re- leased information alerting providers and community leaders that HIV diagnoses are increasing across Louisiana. In 2021, 934 people were newly diagnosed with HIV in Louisiana. That is an increase from the av- erage of 859 individuals yearly from 2018- 2020. In 2020, we had the fourth highest HIV diagnosis rate in the United States. The report also highlighted that the communi- ties most highly impacted and newly di- agnosed with HIV were gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men, at 60%, with the black community represented at 37%. Of all newly diagnosed individuals in 2021, 74% were male, 41% were under the age of 30, and 63% were Black non-His- panic. As you read those data, I hope it reso- nates how sterile it sounds. Every num- ber represents a person. It could be you or someone in our community. A person that is your friend, family member, some- one you go to church with, or that nice person who paid it forward when buying you a coffee in line. What I ask you, dear reader, as we prepare for this next World AIDS Day, is how can you, we, get the mes- sage about HIV prevention out so that we can one day eliminate it. If we can do that as a collective, then a virus like COVID, or any other, has no chance of destroying our communities ever again. n RESOURCES • www.LouisianaHealthHub.org . • Search HIV prevention at www.CDC.gov . • Louisiana Health Alert Network (LA HAN). Christopher Daunis is the director of HIV, HCV, and STI services at Access Health Louisiana. Daunis has a BA in sociology, an MS in applied sociology, and is currently finishing a PhD in urban studies at the University of New Orleans. He has over 12 years of experience in HIVprogramdevelopment, implemen- tation, and management. Originally from Kentucky, Daunis considers Louisiana home, having lived over half of his life in the bayou state. Starting his career with the intention to save the world, he now knows that striving to make it a better place through his work is just as fulfilling.