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Cabarrus County will be free of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and 2 more... less...

All Cabarrus County youth will be drug free.

All Cabarrus County residents experience sexual health with equitable access to prevention, treatment, and management of sexually transmitted infections.

New HIV cases (per 100,000)

Current Value

14.1

2022

Definition

Line Bar Comparison

Story Behind the Curve

General Overview: When looking at the HIV case rate for Cabarrus County as a whole (dark blue line) the forecast of the data would show that this will continue to decrease. However, the disparities shown in the sup populations of the county is where the turn the curve thinking will be applied

 

Contributing Factors:

Postive Factors:

  • Advancement in Medical treatment: Due to the advacement and understanding of HIV medical treatment has allowed for more individuals to be testing at supressed or undetectable levels, which greatly reduces transmission.

Restricting Factors:

  • Disparity: If one is looking at the newly diagnosed HIV cases for the county as a whole, you would see an improvement in the rate. However, the breakdown of the population would show that majority are White, thus masking the disparity that is seen.

  • Stigma: A root cause. The traditional nature of norms within the southern states tends to stigmatize those who access, HIV/STD testing, resources, and/or treatment.

  • COVID-19: As mentioned before, the overall rate of the county is trending down. This could be partially due to the pandemic starting in 2020 and individuals were not getting tested at the same rate as they were before the pandemic.

  • Socioeconomic Status: A root cause. Those that are diagnosed with HIV and do not have access to healthcare coverage would be less likely able to receive the consistent treatment costs that are required.

 

Anticipated Factors:

  • COVID-19: Due to the pandemic, individuals were not getting tested at the rate from previous years, as testing is opening up, the rate has the potential to be exponentially higher.

  • Education: Younger populations may be getting their healthcare-related information from peers, google, etc. This information could be anticipated to be false.

 

Additional Research:

  • Factors: What are more contributing factors that impact the overall trend and the trend of the subpopulation groups? What factors impact the subpopulation groups differently?

  • Disaggregated Data: Are we able to further break down the race/ethnicity categories in order to see what populations of each race/ethnicity are impacted?

  • Root Cause: What are more of the root causes related to HIV diagnosis?

  • Positive Factors: What are additional positive factors contributing to HIV case rate?

Partners

Hint: List the partners and briefly describe the role that each will play to help turn the curve.

  • Cabarrus Health Alliance: Cabarrus Health Alliance is the health authority of Cabarrus County, there are departments and programs within the agency that would allow for those in the community to receive testing, counseling, and follow-up for those with HIV.

  • Neighboring County Health Departments: As neighboring counties may test and diagnose patients that live within Cabarrus County and vice versa, it is important to engage in partnership building. The cross-over could be due to the stigma of getting seen going into a testing clinic in your hometown/county.

  • Individuals experiencing/living with an HIV Diagnosis: Those that are experiencing living with and getting diagnosed with HIV will be the best ones to talk through their needs based on their experience.

What Works

Hint: To best organize content, create subsections using the following headers and organize related content underneath each: Research/Evidence-Based Practices, Low Cost/No Cost Solutions, Off-the-Wall Ideas (or Innovations), and Additional Research.

 

Research/Evidence-Based Practices: 
  • Testing: If one tests positive they are more likely to seek treatment.
  • Outreach/Education: Attending community events and health fairs will allow individuals to know where they can go to access testing, resources, etc.
  • PrEP: Pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP has been shown to reduce the risk of getting HIV when taken correctly.

 

Low Cost/No Cost Solutions:
  • Risk Assessments: Asking individuals that come in for testing questions to see if they are at a higher risk for contracting HIV can be important to the patient and provider.
  • Participating in Educational/Health Fairs: ABy organizations across the county participating in educational and health fairs, this shows that community all the resources that they have related to HIV.
  • Destigmatizing: By addressing social norms, individuals would not feel as though getting tested for HIV is something to be shameful of, but is a way to ensure their optimal health.

 

Off-the-Wall Ideas (or Innovations): 
  • Comprehensive Sex Education: There is a majority of schools that do not teach comprehensive sex education to students
  • Focus group: Engage partners across Cabarrus County to come to a 1 day focus group where resources and best practices are discussed.

 

Additional Research:
  • Low-Cost/No-Cost: What are the additional low-cost/no-cost ideas that would play a role in turning the curve?
  • Focus Group: What would be the logistics of putting together a county-wide focus group on HIV case rate

Strategy

Action Plan

  • Research: Research the partners and contact information or agencies, programs, and/or organizations that are working within the scope of HIV.
  • Focus Group: Cabarrus Health Alliance would designate the Population Health Program Coordinator to facilitate a focus group where root causes related to HIV diagnosis are discussed. This focus group will utilize turn the curve thinking and continue to meet on a quarterly basis.

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