News

World AIDS Day 2016

Collaboration is Key for HIV Prevention

World AIDS Day every year is a reminder of the hard work that the HIV prevention community has undertaken and the work that still remains in reducing and ultimately eliminating HIV in our communities. This year, at the heels of World AIDS Day, the National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC), will hold a PrEP Summit in San Francisco. The goals include bringing people together so that we can advance HIV prevention efforts, especially for people of color.

HIV prevention efforts that we see working and having an impact depend on teamwork and partnerships. Getting to Zero in San Francisco, as well as other ending AIDS campaigns across the country are a mix of people, places, and ideas that come together for one common goal. For San Francisco’s initiative, the framework is based on collective impact— a structured approach to bring a multitude of people together to work toward a common goal.

Efforts within the San Francisco Getting to Zero initiative, such a RAPID ART, PrEP expansion, and retention and reengagement in HIV care are also highly dependent on collaboration. Collective impact brings together individuals from different organizations, disciplines and professional roles to tackle highly complex medical and social issues.  It acknowledges that no one program or agency can address these issues alone.

That is similar to the approach our CBA program takes. The goal is to form partnerships so that we may learn from one another, reflecting on what works and what challenges must be overcome. Our CBA program’s latest effort is to convene Project PrIDE grantees virtually through the PrIDE Learning Collaborative, an online learning community committed to expanding PrEP access among MSM of color and transgender persons. Our goal is to create a space to share and exchange information, ideas, challenges, and outcomes.

Our team is excited to be joining NMAC’s very first PrEP Summit because we believe strongly that we must all work together, collectively and cohesively, if we are to make more inroads within HIV prevention. We’ve seen progress, here in San Francisco and in other parts of the country. And it’ll take teamwork and partnerships to keep this momentum going.

back to top