Wisconsin High-Impact HIV Prevention and Surveillance Program. - To reduce new HIV diagnoses, during the grant period supported by PS-24-0047 the Program will implement HIV prevention and surveillance strategies and activities consistent with the National AIDS/HIV Strategy and Wisconsin’s Integrated HIV Prevention and Care Plan, 2022-2026. Supported activities will include: utilizing HIV surveillance data to focus prevention efforts and target disparities; providing access to HIV testing for persons at increased risk (gay, bisexual or other men who have sex with men [MSM], people who inject drug [PWID], partners of known HIV+ persons, etc.); effective referral of newly-diagnosed HIV-positive persons to support engagement and retention in care, and sustained viral suppression; promotion of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) to HIV negative persons at risk; increased STI screening among MSM, including extra-genital screening and routine screening for PLWH; molecular HIV surveillance, and other strategies to identify and quickly address clusters and outbreaks of HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs); coordinating state-wide HIV partner services activities with STI disease intervention efforts; growing the Data to Care Program in order to re-link individuals to HIV care; promotion of effective and consistent condom use by HIV-positive individuals, persons with STIs, MSM and other high-risk populations; supporting behavioral, social marketing and health education programs that promote the reduction of HIV risk behaviors; and coordination of community planning efforts to engage populations, faith communities and businesses in local HIV prevention efforts. Collaboration within public health and with outside partners will continue to be a priority for the HIV Program in 2024. HIV has been reportable in Wisconsin for over 30 years, and the Program's Surveillance systems are mature and well established. HIV Surveillance and HIV Partner Services teams communicate directly with each other. The HIV Program has coordinated a joint HIV Prevention and HIV Care Community Planning process since 2007. In recent years, the Program has played an active role in advising statewide policy and procedures to address the opioid epidemic in Wisconsin, including supporting overdose prevention interventions. The HIV Program works closely with the Wisconsin STI Program, jointly funding Milwaukee's DIS activities. The STI Program works collaboratively with HIV prevention, care, and surveillance staff to identify co-infections and conduct follow-up activities. The HIV Program has enjoyed very close integration between HIV prevention, surveillance, and care/Ryan White, STI, and HCV services, all of which are housed within the Communicable Disease Harm Reduction (CDHR) Section in order to most effectively address the syndemic of HIV, STIs, and HCV. Priorities for 2024-2029 will include continuing to focus on and improve Linkage to Care and Data to Care services by finding ways to make those processes routine and more effective, and incorporating status neutral approaches to link people to needed services regardless of their HIV status. Health equity is also a priority of the HIV Program’s, and the CDHR Section works closely with a health equity strategist housed within the Bureau of Communicable Diseases. Health equity is also embedded in the expectations we have for subrecipient agencies that perform HIV prevention work funded by DHS. In addition to supporting surveillance and core prevention activities, funds from PS-24-0047 will be used to support integrated HIV prevention for priority populations at highest HIV risk. Through the PS-24-0047 funding cycle, the Wisconsin HIV Program is committed to improving the quality, completeness, and use of HIV surveillance and program data to monitor HIV trends and expand data-to-care capacity.
