Every five years, Ryan White Care (RWC) requires its programs to prepare new plans to adjust to the changing epidemic. Biomedical advances, such as PrEP and Treatment as Prevention, have changed how people understand HIV. It has become difficult to separate HIV Prevention from Treatment. Florida’s RWC programs have submitted their new five-year plans. This article summarizes Miami-Dade County’s five-year HIV plan for 2017-2021.
The epidemic in Miami-Dade
Only 13.2 percent of Florida’s population lives in Miami-Dade County. Yet Miami-Dade has 23.7 percent of all people living with HIV (PLWH) in Florida. Miami-Dade exceeds all other counties in the number of its annual newly diagnosed HIV cases. While 23 percent of Florida identifies as Latino, 67 percent of Miami-Dade does.
Miami-Dade reports data separately for Haitians and Blacks. About 11 percent of PLWH in Miami-Dade in 2015 identified as Haitian, 5 percent male and 6 percent female. Only 17 percent of people in Miami-Dade identify as non-Haitian Black. In contrast, 41 percent of the PLWH in Miami-Dade identify as non-Haitian Black.
Challenges and Goals
Miami-RWC found three major challenges in its Continuum of Care: linkage, retention, and viral suppression. Specific groups of clients varied in linkage, retention in care, and viral suppression. This indicates a need for changes directed towards specific client groups.
Miami-RWC linked 85 percent of its clients to care within 90 days of diagnosis. This exceeded its goal in its previous plan by 5 percentage points. In its 2017-2021 plan, Miami-RWC set a more ambitious goal. Its new goal is to link at least 80 percent of its clients to care within 30 days of diagnosis.