Characteristics of transgendered persons who accessed HIV services

Background: Transgendered persons have higher HIV prevalence rates, are often unaware of their HIV status, and are less likely to receive medical treatment for their HIV infection. As a result, they are likely to experience higher morbidity and mortality, and are more likely to infect others. Methods: Descriptive statistics were used to describe demographics, and service utilization of the transgender population that accessed Ryan White services in 2010. Results: Data revealed that transgender persons were likely to present late for HIV testing and were at high-risk for not accessing HIV care. Of those who accessed services, 33% had AIDS diagnosis at initial diagnosis or within 12 months of their first HIV positive test and 31% had an inactive enrollment status, or were not receiving services, at the end of the year. Of the persons who accessed services, 100% identified as male-to-female (MTF) transgender. African American (AA) MTFs were more likely to have an AIDS diagnosis (75%) in comparison to Whites (17%) and Hispanic/Latinos (8%) and were more likely to have an inactive enrollment status (80%) when compared to Whites (20%). Conclusions: These findings underscore the need to develop strategies that will increase HIV testing, linkage and retention in care in this population. A quality improvement team consisting of transgendered persons, public health outreach and Ryan White Services staff was formed to develop and test strategies to improve HIV testing, linkage to and retention in care. Findings from the improvement project will be presented.