High-impact HIV prevention and surveillance programs for health departments - the HIV surveillance and prevention programs will utilize strategies, activities, and resources associated with this…

High-impact HIV prevention and surveillance programs for health departments - the HIV surveillance and prevention programs will utilize strategies, activities, and resources associated with this cooperative agreement to conduct HIV surveillance activities, prevention interventions, and strategic planning. These efforts will increase knowledge of HIV status, reduce HIV transmission, prevent new HIV infections, improve linkage to care and viral suppression and maintain elimination of perinatal transmission. The HIV surveillance and prevention programs at the iowa department of health and human services (HHS) intend to achieve several outcomes over the five-year project period. Long-term outcomes include reduced new HIV infections, reduced HIV-related health disparities, and improved health outcomes for people living with HIV (plhiv). The HHS will collect, analyze, and monitor surveillance data related to HIV, as described in the technical guidance (TG) for HIV surveillance programs. HHS will maintain high levels of HIV surveillance data completeness, timeliness, and accuracy improving the use of data for public health action. HHS will respond to HIV clusters and outbreaks and continually work to improve response capacity at the local and state level. HHS will utilize a syndemic approach to identify trends, gaps, and further improve early identification of clusters and outbreaks. The HHS will strive to prevent new HIV infections and increase HIV status knowledge. Through strong partnerships and a whole-person approach, HHS will implement interventions at the individual, community, and structural level to increase awareness of and access to prevention tools, including prep, npep, condoms, and harm reduction equipment, and testing. The HHS will strive to improve health outcomes among plhiv. The HHS will provide a comprehensive approach to rapidly link individuals newly diagnosed with HIV and those not-in-care to medical and support services. To accomplish this, the HIV prevention and surveillance programs will work collaboratively with the iowa ryan white part b program. The HHS will support community engagement and comprehensive HIV planning. State-wide planning will be accomplished in partnership with the iowa HIV and hepatitis community planning group. HHS will facilitate the development, monitoring, and evaluation of the comprehensive HIV plan through continuous community engagement. This funding application describes iowa's proposed approach to achieving the priorities of the nofo, to increase knowledge of HIV status, reduce HIV transmission, prevent new HIV infections, improve linkage to care and viral suppression and maintain elimination of perinatal transmission.