Aviva Pharmacy Supports Long Beach With Access To HIV Treatment
Written By Lexi Masek, 21 July, 2021
In the year of 2019, a five-year federal initiative titled, Ending the HIV Epidemic: A plan for America, was implemented.
The goal of the initiative is to achieve 75% reduction in new HIV transmission by 2025 and at least 90% reduction by 2030. The goal's key pillars of focus include:
Diagnosing individuals as early as possible
Treating people rapidly and effectively
Preventing new HIV transmissions
Responding quickly to HIV outbreaks
In LA county, 57,000 individuals are living with HIV, 6,400 are unaware of their HIV positive status, and 1,700 new transmissions are reported per year.
In the LA community:
- Latinx males represent 24.3% of the population and 40% of those individuals are living with HIV.
- Caucasian males represent 14% of the population and 26% are living with HIV.
- African American males represent 4% of the community and 16% are living with HIV.
Latinx, Caucasian, and African American males represent more than 80% of people living with diagnosed HIV in LA county. In Long Beach, more than 4,500 individuals are living with HIV.
So, what has the city of Long Beach done in order to better provide for the community?
The Long Beach Comprehensive HIV Planning Group launched an effort in collaboration with the LGTBQ+ Community, LA County Division of HIV and STD Programs, policy representatives, medical care providers (and many more) to provide access to services for the community in involvement with the HIV/STD strategy.
Although PrEP, PEP and other HIV treatment options have shown positive results in preventing HIV transmission, access to facilities and testing still remain a challenge for Long Beach residents.
Here in Long Beach, zip codes where the highest African-American and Latinx populations reside, are facing the highest number of those living with HIV.
Many of our neighborhoods are within low-income communities and have less facilities and resources for testing, treatment and other services.
Aviva is located within a zip code with the highest affected communities. That is where the highest number of Latinx and African American individuals reside. This location provides our team of pharmacists with the opportunity to make an impact with more accessibility of resources for those in need.
Our staff are trained and certified to assess eligibility for PrEP treatment. Together as a community, we can reduce the transmission of HIV within the Long Beach community.