Community Impact

Similar to an epidemic, a syndemic is when two or more epidemics have concurrent causes. One may influence the other, so it is important to implement best practices to maximize efforts. The EHE Plan and Indiana’s Zero is Possible Plan work jointly to:

• Promote a community-wide commitment to ending the HIV epidemic and eliminating HCV
• Collaborate with partners to share information, resources, tools and strategies
• Prioritize regional workplans, assess existing programs and provide recommendations to address gaps in services and funding allocations
• Center the voices of people with lived experience
• Enlist diverse partners and promote access to and effective use of mainstream programming

Through continuous feedback from the community and people with lived experience, organizations listen, demonstrate the community’s need for programming surrounding HIV services and promote projects that address services different communities and neighborhoods require to address HIV incident rates.

Status-neutral is a method of preventing, diagnosing and treating HIV/HCV/STIs where all people regardless of HIV-status are included in the model.

• People who test non-reactive are provided tools to remain non-reactive (PrEP, condoms, harm-reduction services, etc.).
• People who test reactive are connected to quality healthcare quickly (linkage-to-care).
• People who have been previously diagnosed HIV-positive are given supportive services to achieve and remain virally suppressed (connect-to-care).

While stigma refers to an attitude of belief, discrimination is the behaviors that result from those attitudes or beliefs. HIV discrimination is the act of treating people with HIV differently that those without HIV.

Here are a few examples:

• A health care professional refusing to provide care or services to a person living with HIV.
• Socially isolating a member of a community because they are HIV positive.

HIV stigma is rooted in a fear of HIV. Many ideas about HIV come from the HIV images that first appeared in the early 1980s. There are still misconceptions about how HIV is transmitted and what it means to live with HIV today. The lack of information and awareness combined with outdated beliefs lead people to fear getting HIV. Additionally, many people think of HIV as a disease that only certain groups get. This leads to negative value judgements about people who are living with HIV.

The words we use matter. When talking about HIV, certain words and language may have a negative meaning for people at high risk for HIV or those who are living with HIV. Consider using preferred terms to avoid promoting stigma and misinformation around HIV.

• Being proficient in discussing the transmission of HIV
• The stages of HIV as it develops
• The window periods for detecting HIV antibodies or antibodies and antigens in an individual’s blood
• Being able to discuss how the HIV virus grows in the body
• Having the ability to identify risk factors for HIV in different demographics and discuss risk reduction
• Following the recommended test protocol for the session and having the skills to do the test
• Delivering the results of tests for non-reactive, reactive and invalid tests
• Knowing when and to whom a recommendation for PrEP should be made
• The correct submission of all required reports
• Having the knowledge and skills to discuss the policies that apply to Universal Precautions

The assurance from an agency manager that their staff member is able to perform tasks that would allow them to participate in a shorter training due to being medically trained ( RN, NPAs)

A 90 percent score or higher on an HIV Proficiency pre-training Quiz given on the day of the training.

In order for participants to receive an Evaluation Web Account, used to submit testing results to the state, a tester must complete five supervisor-observed testing sessions, which will be returned to the trainer within 5 weeks of training completion.

When the tester has their Evaluation Web account created they will receive a certificate of course completion for their and the employing agencies’ records.