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State health staff and members highlight racial disparities in HIV diagnoses and urge focused prevention outreach
Summary
Louisiana Department of Health staff and task force members said recent data show Black gay and bisexual men and Black women are disproportionately affected by new HIV diagnoses; task force discussed targeted PrEP outreach and an NIH‑funded local project to raise PrEP awareness among Black cisgender women.
LDH staff told the HR 3 22 task force that Louisiana’s newly diagnosed HIV cases are disproportionately concentrated among Black residents and men who have sex with men. The department reported that 68 percent of new diagnoses in the referenced dataset were Black and that gay and bisexual men make up a large share of new cases.
Representative Annie Spell and others asked what the state is doing to address those disparities. LDH staff and Dr. Meredith Clement described prevention activities, including provider training and community outreach focused on increasing awareness and uptake of pre‑exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Clement and LDH staff described a locally supported project — funded through an NIH R34 award in collaboration with Duke — that paired provider education for gynecology clinicians with a social‑media campaign developed in partnership with the Institute for Women in Ethnic Studies (IWISH) to raise PrEP awareness among Black cisgender women.
Members expressed concern about possible federal funding changes. Dr. Burgess said the state had not yet lost federal HIV prevention funds but acknowledged language in federal appropriations debates that could reduce funding in the future. Members asked LDH to provide trend data and programmatic details showing prevention funding, utilization of PrEP, and outcomes over multiple years to assess whether interventions are reducing new infections.
The task force asked staff to present trend data and a fuller description of prevention programs at the next meeting so the group can assess effectiveness and equity of current efforts before producing recommendations.
