JSI Leading New HIV Initiative: Syndemic Approach to Improve HIV Care for Racial and Ethnic Communities

We are pleased to announce that JSI was selected as the Evaluation and Technical Assistance Provider (ETAP) for a System-Level Syndemic Approach to Improve HIV Care and Treatment for People from Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups. This new initiative is funded by the Minority HIV/AIDS Fund and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB), Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP), Part F: Special Projects of National Significance. JSI is collaborating with NMAC to lead this initiative.

“JSI is committed to addressing the intersectional challenges of HIV through a transformative, syndemic approach that breaks down barriers and creates sustainable change. We look forward to partnering with NMAC on this important work,” said Erin Starzyk, co-principal investigator.

People from racial and ethnic minority groups face longstanding health and income inequities that have led to poor health outcomes over generations. These communities are disproportionately affected by HIV, co-occurring health conditions, and social determinants of health that make access to and retention in HIV care and treatment challenging. Syndemics occur when epidemics, health conditions, and environmental factors that interact with one another disproportionately affect marginalized communities contributing to an excess burden of disease within a population.

“JSI is a leader in public health with a long history of providing technical and capacity building assistance to HIV providers and health departments,” said Harold Phillips, NMAC’s deputy director of programs and co-principal investigator for this initiative. “NMAC is very excited to partner with JSI to implement lasting, system-level change to improve engagement in HIV care and viral suppression rates among minorities with HIV.”

This initiative will support six demonstration systems for four years to design, implement, and evaluate a syndemic approach to link and retain people with HIV from racial and ethnic minority groups in comprehensive and integrated care. This care includes services and support to address mental health, substance use, and critical social factors that impact health, such as housing, intimate partner violence, and food insecurity.

JSI will provide technical assistance and capacity strengthening to the demonstration systems as they implement their syndemic approaches; develop and implement a multisystem evaluation to assess the effectiveness and cost of their interventions; and disseminate findings, best practices, and lessons learned to foster replication by other HIV service systems.

“This initiative will give six communities the opportunity to design and implement holistic HIV care based on the social drivers of HIV in their local context,” said Naima Morales Cozier, project director. “The lessons learned and other findings will help strengthen HIV systems of care across the United States.”

The six demonstration systems are the following:

• AIDS Care Group: Chester, Pennsylvania
• Dallas County Health and Human Services: Dallas, Texas
• Maryland Department of Health: Baltimore, Maryland
• Montefiore Medical Center: Bronx, New York
• Positive Impact Health Centers: Atlanta, Georgia
• University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center: Albuquerque, New Mexico

This initiative expands on JSI’s longstanding history of collaborating with HRSA HAB and the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program to enhance care for people living with HIV.