Process of Creating an Outreach Program to Link Homeless HIV-Positive Women of Color to HIV services

Issues: Racial and ethnic disparities in the disease are most apparent among women in the US, with at least six out of every ten female HIV cases occurring among African American women, and it is increasing among Latinas. These incident rates are similar in Los Angeles County, where homelessness confounds access to HIV care for women of color. Services for HIV have mostly focused on men. Despite knowledge of services, women seem to have more difficulty accessing and navigating the HIV services system.

Description: The purpose of the Special Projects of National Significance Programs- SPNS is to recruit and retain HIV-positive Women of Color (WOC) through its partnership with the largest HIV care provider in Los Angeles County and to link HIV-positive homeless women with ancillary services to help further their care (HIV, mental health, etc.). Outreach and case management methods will be theory based coupled with creative teaming of Promotoras/Community Outreach Workers (P/Cs) and peer P/Cs. This project will monitor participants' self-reported risk behavior and utilization of services at 90 and 180-days after enrollment in SPNS WOC.

Lessons: Increased use of HIV and medical services among HIV-positive homeless women of color is the target objective. This information will be used to improve HIV prevention programming overall and a national understanding of how to best help and re-link homeless women to HIV services and medical programs.

Recommendations: Creating intensive outreach teams is the most effective procedure to link or re-link HIV-positive homeless women into HIV medical care and ancillary services.