HIV studies help public health
By Seth Ronquillo
Nov. 4, 2010 1:18 a.m.
A team of UCLA researchers will conduct a study to test the effects of a new health care strategy on HIV-positive men released from Los Angeles County jails.
One in seven individuals infected with HIV come and go through a correctional system, according to a university statement. This study could help improve the health of the HIV-positive men from the L.A. County jails by giving them improved access to the complex health care system. Consequently, this study will also help prevent the transmission of the disease to the communities they return to.
The five-year study is funded through a $4.6 million grant by the National Institutes of Health.
Researchers will conduct the study with the assistance of a staff comprised of men who have been previously incarcerated, have used a variety of substances, and are HIV-positive, just like the subjects, said Dr. William Cunningham, a professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine and the study’s co-principal investigator. The staff will guide the recently released men through the health care system and will assist them in getting doctor’s appointments, a method called peer-navigation.
The researchers will put the subjects on sustained treatment in a clinical trial to find ways to improve their health and prevent HIV transmission in the communities they return to, according to a university statement.
Because HIV-positive men go in and out of jail at a very high rate, the study will not just benefit the health of each individual man but also the health of the communities where they come from, said Dr. Jennifer Sayles, the medical director of the L.A. County Department of Health’s Office of AIDS Programs and Policy and the study’s co-principal investigator.
Cunningham added that since men who come in and out of the L.A. County jails also have higher levels of the HIV virus in their blood than other HIV-positive men outside the correctional system, “the goal is to reduce the level of virus in the blood of the person.”
By doing so, the participants will have improved health and will be less likely to spread the disease to their communities.
Over the course of the study, researchers will measure any changes in the participants’ health and will observe the effectiveness of the peer-navigation intervention. They will also analyze the cost-effectiveness of the intervention strategy in terms of the participants’ use of the health care system, Cunningham said.
In addition, researchers will examine any effects the intervention may have on the re-arrest rates of the participants. If the peer-navigation intervention is effective, it could play a key role in how Los Angeles responds to public health, particularly HIV and AIDS, Sayles said.
