High-Impact HIV Prevention and Surveillance Programs for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health - The City of Philadelphia requests cooperative agreement funding under CDC-RFA-PS-24-0047 High-Impact HIV Prevention and Surveillance Programs for Health Departments to support community engagement, health equity, syndemic and whole-person approaches to HIV prevention. Priorities include increasing knowledge of HIV status, reducing HIV transmission, preventing new HIV infections, improving linkage to care and viral suppression, and maintaining elimination of perinatal transmission. Over a 5-year period beginning August 1, 2024, the City of Philadelphia, through its Department of Public Health (PDPH) Division of HIV Health, proposes to implement a comprehensive HIV prevention and surveillance program to prevent new HIV infections and improve the health of people with HIV. By the end of the period of performance, reduced new HIV infections, improved health outcomes for people with HIV including sustained viral suppression, and reduced HIV-related health disparities are expected. While new diagnoses of HIV in Philadelphia have decreased by 12.8% since 2018, HIV disease continues to affect the City at epidemic proportions. Currently, nearly 19,000 people with diagnosed HIV live in Philadelphia, and during 2022, there were 382 new diagnoses of HIV. The largest burden of HIV disease continues to impact men who have sex with men and increasingly people who inject drugs. Overall, both newly diagnosed and prevalent disease disproportionally affect Black and Brown communities in Philadelphia. PDPH estimates a total of 8,750 HIV negative persons in Philadelphia during 2022 with a PrEP indication, with HIV-negative, non-Hispanic Black MSM and Hispanic MSM having the greatest proportion of PrEP indications (66% and 48%, respectively). Because of the City’s heavy HIV burden, Philadelphia was designated in 2019 as one of the initial jurisdictions eligible for the federal Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) initiative. By late 2020, A Community Plan to End the HIV Epidemic in Philadelphia was published. The EHE Plan’s primary goal is to achieve a 75% reduction in new HIV diagnoses by 2025 and a 90% reduction in new HIV diagnoses by 2030. Locally, activities are centered on the national EHE strategies to diagnose, treat, prevent, and respond to outbreaks, as well as locally-developed health equity and radical customer service activities necessary to meet EHE goals. The EHE Plan aligns with the Philadelphia Eligible Metropolitan Area Integrated HIV Prevention and Care Plan 2022-2026, a requirement of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program for the 9-county region. Through implementation of all required PS24-0047 strategies and activities, PDPH aims to ensure that all undiagnosed individuals are aware of their HIV infection, ensure that all HIV-diagnosed persons are rapidly linked to and retained in HIV medical care, that patients in HIV care are supported in achieving and maintaining viral suppression, and that new HIV infections are avoided through nPEP, PrEP, condom promotion, access to locally-funded syringe service programs, and other risk reduction strategies.
