Program Evaluation for VOAKY HIV/AIDS Treatment and Prevention Program

The VOA’s proposed program mission is to develop a sustainable infrastructure to provide counseling, testing and referrals for HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention in the metropolitan area of Louisville, Kentucky. The evaluation strategy supports this mission by showing how the program network and all other stakeholders address the proposed goals, by employing a variety of outreach approaches, to make a significant impact in the prevalence and incidence of HIV/AIDS within Louisville Metropolitan area. The Network, with its expertise and facilities, and the CDC funding are the VOA’s main resources to outreach and enroll recruiters and PrEP clients in this program, with the purpose to prevent HIV infection, and to ensure access to services for individuals who test HIV positive. Evaluation is conducted at all program levels and the results are then incorporated back into the CTR process, to account for the dynamics of the program. The VOAKY’s project will focus on high-risk groups, specifically men who have sex with men (MSM), regardless of race/ethnicity who live in the Louisville, Kentucky MSA. Louisville carries 49% of the viral load for the entire Commonwealth of Kentucky and the current prevention efforts are woefully inadequate to meet the demand. The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services’ 2013 Kentucky HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report shows that 49% of Kentucky’s 8,904 cumulative HIV infections have been in the North Central Area Development District, which includes Louisville/Jefferson County. In fact, Jefferson County alone accounts for 4,000 (45%) of those cumulative cases, far more than any other Kentucky county. According to the same report, the MSM transmission route accounted for 169, or 54%, of Kentucky’s 313 new HIV infection diagnoses, clearly illustrating that addressing high risk behaviors within this community must be a primary focus of HIV Prevention efforts. Heterosexual transmission accounted for 24 infections, or 8%, which is greater than other transmission routes such as intravenous drug use (IDU). Thus, targeting high-risk heterosexual (HRH) behaviors and communities is demonstrated to be an effective secondary area of focus for HIV Prevention efforts. This proposal will enable VOAKY to most effectively augment and expand on the existing HIV Prevention services our agency has offered since 1995 through funding from the State Department of Public Health. New and enhanced strategies will include PrEP. Couples HIV Testing, Social Network Recruiting, and an enhanced social media campaign.