Ryan White and Latinx AIDS Awareness Day

Latinos represent 26% of new HIV diagnoses in the United States, but make only 18.3% of the overall population (CDC, 2016). Most new HIV cases among Latinos are among men who have sex with men, MSM; these increases are concentrated in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Texas, and Puerto Rico (CDC, 2018). 

Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program and Hispanic/Latino Individuals

Nearly three-quarters of RWHAP clients are from racial/ethnic minority populations. According to the 2017 HRSA client level data report, 23.1% of Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) clients were Hispanic/Latino (HRSA, 2018).

From 2010 through 2017 (the time period where client-level data are available), viral suppression increased across all RWHAP racial/ethnic populations (HRSA 2019). For RWHAP Hispanic/Latino clients, viral suppression increased from 73.6% to 87.9% over this time period (88.1% for Hispanic/Latino men and 87.4% for Latinas). 

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HRSA HIV/AIDS Bureau RWHAP Annual Client-Level Data Report, 2017

Viral Suppression among Clients Served by the RWHAP, by Race/Ethnicity, 2017—United States and 3 Territories

TA and Training Resources

Access TA and training resources for Latino populations on TargetHIV's cultural competency topic page. Below are some recent additions.

HIV Care Delivery and Best Practices in Serving Latinx Communities

Two recent webinars from the SPNS demonstration initiative, Culturally Appropriate Interventions of Outreach, Access and Retention among Latino(a) Populations highlighted best practices.

• Explore Evidence-Informed Interventions from the SPNS Latino Initiative, featured ways to effectively engage Latinos of Mexican descent in HIV testing and linkage to care.
• Building Effective Interventions for Latino Clients focused on clients of Puerto Rican and Mexican descent and work to build rapport with clients and address barriers to care.

Interventions for Engaging and Retaining Women of Color

• Peer Linkage and Re-Engagement of HIV-Positive Women of Color, manual, curriculum, fact sheet and other implementation resources for an evidence-informed approach for re-engaging women of color in HIV care. 

• SPNS Transgender Women of Color Initiative Intervention Manual, captures implementation details from nine participating sites, several of which had significant Latina participation.

• Implementation Guide: Enhancing Access to HIV Care for Women of Color, summarizes promising practices from the SPNS Women of Color initiative. The guide contains real-world insight about effective interventions and best practices from the 10 grantees.

Accessing Health Coverage

The ACE TA Center has developed multiple consumer education resources, including Making the Most of Your Coverage - Consumer Guide. These resources are geared to assist patients in enrolling in the best coverage for their situation, and in getting the most from their health coverage once they are enrolled.

Many of the ACE TA Center consumer education and outreach resources are available in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole. 

Continuity of Care: U.S.-Mexico Border AETC Steering Team (UMBAST)

This collaborative project spans the four U.S. states that border Mexico, and provides onsite training for border clinicians and community health workers (in English and Spanish). UMBAST has also produced care continuity resources to assist providers with patients returning to Mexico and Central America, or those with patients detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

National Latinx Conference on HIV/HCV/SUD

This national event is co-sponsored by RWHAP recipient site, Valley AIDS Council, and the South Central AIDS Education and Training Center.

2020 Dates: April 3-5, Albuquerque, New Mexico.