Lessons Learned from the District of Columbia's Initiative to Implement Routine Screening for HIV

Issue: Washington, DC has the highest AIDS prevalence rate in the U.S. The DC Department of Health launched the nation's first city-wide HIV screening campaign, “Come Together DC—Get Screened for HIV” in summer 2006. Challenges and lessons learned from implementing DC's HIV screening campaign can assist other public health jurisdictions interested in launching a large scale, city-wide screening campaign. Description: The campaign provided free screening for all residents aged 14-84 and encouraged routinized testing at all health care sectors (e.g., public health clinics, community-based organizations (CBOs), hospital emergency departments, private physicians). Campaign partners provided estimates of monthly test kit usage; provided a testing quality assurance plan; documented proper staff training; and completed a specialized participant data form for program monitoring and evaluation. Lessons Learned: An assessment of the first six months of the campaign revealed successes and challenges. Successes included the increased number of CBOs and new partners providing free HIV screening. Challenges included distributing HIV test kits and responding to health care provider real and perceived barriers to implementation. Lessons learned included the importance of defining what is meant by routine screening across settings; need for thoughtful budget and program planning; need for stakeholder engagement; and incorporating plans for monitoring and evaluation prior to implementation. Recommendations: Based on the assessment, recommendations include: development of an implementation plan to guide ongoing program activities; implementation of a monitoring and evaluation project; taking steps to disseminate information about the initiative; identifying new resources; and maximizing existing resources to sustain the initiative.