UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM
Grant: $6,833,921 - National Institutes of Health - Sep. 30, 2009
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Award Description: HIV infection in the US occurs disproportionately among racial/ethnic minority youth in urban areas. The Adolescent Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions (ATN) has developed a community-based primary HIV prevention infrastructure in 13 cities anchored on the establishment of community coalitions and capacity building of coalition activities modeled on community mobilization theories. Responding to a rise in HIV rates in the US particularly among men who have sex with men, the CDC has provided additional funds through their cooperative agreement grantees to expand local and state-wide testing for HIV. Leadership at the CDC and the NIH/ATN have developed a unique collaborative arrangement to take advantage of the opportunity to marry this expanding testing initiative with an ATN initiative addressing linkage-to-care (LTC) efforts; the collaboration will occur in those cities where ATN-affiliated adolescent/young adult HIV clinics are located. The ATN scientific leadership has developed a LTC model informed by an ongoing protocol assessing LTC activities at all the ATN sites (AMTU). The focus of this proposal is to implement and evaluate a program to improve LTC of previously undiagnosed HIV-infected youth. LTC activities will include collaboration with Local Health Department (LHD) screening efforts, real-time review of seropositive results among youth, and implementation of a localized LTC protocol. The process and outcome of all LTC activities will be evaluated as there is limited information on outcomes related to LTC activities and factors that may modify the effectiveness of these programs. The primary outcome will be the effectiveness of the local LTC model and factors impacting this effectiveness that will be evaluated across AMTU. In addition, structured assessment of the local LTC model including costs and productivity will be done to inform a cost-effectiveness model for this type of effort. These data would inform models for LTC programs in all domestic urban areas and would form the basis for other LTC modeling and thus sustainability of these types of programs.
Project Description: The Adolescent Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions (ATN) has developed a community-based primary HIV prevention infrastructure in 13 cities anchored on the establishment of community coalitions and capacity building of coalition activities modeled on community mobilization theories. Responding to a rise in HIV rates in the US particularly among men who have sex with men, the CDC has provided additional funds through their cooperative agreement grantees to expand local and state-wide testing for HIV. Leadership at the CDC and the NIH/ATN have developed a unique collaborative arrangement to take advantage of the opportunity to marry this expanding testing initiative with an ATN initiative addressing linkage-to-care (LTC) efforts; the collaboration will occur in those cities where ATN-affiliated adolescent/young adult HIV clinics are located. The ATN scientific leadership has developed a LTC model informed by an ongoing protocol assessing LTC activities at all the ATN sites (AMTU). The focus of this proposal is to implement and evaluate a program to improve LTC of previously undiagnosed HIV-infected youth. LTC activities will include collaboration with Local Health Department (LHD) screening efforts, real-time review of seropositive results among youth, and implementation of a localized LTC protocol. The process and outcome of all LTC activities will be evaluated as there is limited information on outcomes related to LTC activities and factors that may modify the effectiveness of these programs. The primary outcome will be the effectiveness of the local LTC model and factors impacting this effectiveness that will be evaluated across AMTU. Structured assessment of the local LTC model including costs and productivity will be done to inform a cost-effectiveness model for this type of effort. These data would inform models for LTC programs in all domestic urban areas and would form the basis for other LTC modeling and thus sustainability of these types of programs.
Jobs Summary: Project Not Started (Total jobs reported: 0)
Project Status: Not Started
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