PS24-063, MARI Project: SALUD MOVIL: Strengthening Access in Latinos Using Digital and Mobile Outreach through Versatile, Inclusive, and Latino-centered Healthcare Innovations

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT Racial and ethnic minorities are overrepresented in the HIV Epidemic, particularly in the Southern United States. Over the past decade, Hispanic and Latino Gay and Bisexual Men (HLGBM) in Georgia have experienced a 21% increase in new HIV infections, starkly contrasted with the 4% and 1% increases among Black and White counterparts, respectively. Furthermore, at least five HIV molecular clusters have been identified in Georgia in recent years, primarily affecting HLGBM. Our previous collaborations with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state and local health departments, and community organizations revealed important barriers faced by HLGBM in accessing sexual health services. These include scarcity of bilingual healthcare providers, distrust in healthcare and governmental institutions, segregation, transportation barriers, among other important social and structural barriers. In response, our team secured federal funding and, in May 2023, launched a community-guided social media campaign promoting a citywide bilingual peer-navigator program. This initiative focuses on connecting HLGBM to accessible, affordable sexual health services across Atlanta. The program was well-received and ultimately adopted by local health districts and users praised the program’s patient-centered approach. Nevertheless, challenges such as extended wait times for appointments, scheduling conflicts, limited operating hours, transportation challenges, and limited bilingual HIV care providers at all levels persist. Our proposed project, “SALUD MOVIL”, builds on the success of the peer-navigator program, employing technology, convenient laboratory testing, and robust community-informed and implementation-science frameworks to tackle the social and structural barriers hindering care delivery among HLGBM. “SALUD MOVIL” addresses the four pillars of the Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE), and is aimed to RESPOND to the increases in new HIV diagnoses and clusters in HLGBM, by applying Community-Based Participatory Research Principles and Implementation Science Frameworks to inform the adaptation and integration (Aim 1) of a bundle of two evidence-based interventions (EBIs): 1) Bilingual telemedicine for HIV TREATMENT and PREVENTION, coupled with 2) Mobile HIV/STI TESTING and phlebotomy services. These adapted EBIs will then be piloted, and implementation outcomes measured. Our goal is to develop a toolkit for broader translation, providing guidance to scale the program and address HLGBM's social and structural challenges in other settings.