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Meeting the HIV prevention needs of substance using young adults in the United States Virgin Islands
Retrovirology volume 9, Article number: P129 (2012)
Introduction
The need for comprehensive HIV prevention in the United States Virgin Islands is tremendous. HIV rates in the Carribbean region of the world is second only to sub-Saharan Africa, and the USVI has one of the highest rates in the United States. The primary mode of transmission in the USVI is heterosexual contact fueled by substance using risks. The presenation will provide an overview of a model program designed to increase HIV testing access and reduce HIV infections.
Materials and methods
The project is a collaboration between local entities and the Univeristy of Tennessee and Norfolk State University. The program seeks to provide culturally appropriate early intervention, HIV testing, and substance use services to young adults at high risk for contracting HIV.
Results
Over the first two years of the project over 160 individuals have participated in the project and have experienced statistically significant improvements in HIV risk behaviors and levels of substance use.
Conclusions
The project serves as an example of culturally appropriate interventions for high risk young adult populations.
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This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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MacMaster, S., Wodarski, J. Meeting the HIV prevention needs of substance using young adults in the United States Virgin Islands. Retrovirology 9 (Suppl 1), P129 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1186/1742-4690-9-S1-P129
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1742-4690-9-S1-P129
Keywords
- Young Adult
- Risk Behavior
- Model Program
- Primary Mode
- Local Entity