Monday, July 16th, marks the six-year anniversary of when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for the prevention of HIV.
Since the introduction of PrEP, Care Resource has been a leader in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties providing Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), an effective prevention strategy aiming to reduce HIV acquisition risk by 92% if taken as prescribed. It is part of the comprehensive prevention plan that includes adherence and prevention counseling, HIV risk behavior counseling, HIV prevention education, and the provision of condoms.
Dr. Steven Santiago, Care Resource’s Chief Medical Officer, was one of the first clinicians in the United States to begin to use and promote the use of this Preventive Strategy. Sanique Olkuch, DNP, Care Resource’s Associate Medical Director also implemented an effective protocol to create access to the health center’s HIV negative patients when they were determined to be a high risk of HIV infection.
From enhanced prevention efforts, increased access to PrEP and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), improvement of youth education and the continued identification of the root causes of stigma, the “Getting to Zero” goal to achieve a 25% reduction in new HIV cases by 2020 was reduced by 5.5%. In 2015, there were 1,344 new cases of HIV diagnosis. There were 1,270 new infections in 2016, a 5.5% reduction from the 2015 number.
In addition, Care Resource has created a voucher program for uninsured patients and has received an award from TESTMiami’s Symposium and Award Ceremony hosted by the Miami-Dade County Health Department as “Outstanding PrEP Agency 2017.”
Contact Care Resource at 305-576-1234, EXT# 306 or at prep@careresource.org to schedule an appointment or a consultation. A healthcare professional can advise you on how you can take PrEP correctly and ensure that you are protected.
