To commemorate National Latinx AIDS Awareness Day, the Health Department recently announced the expansion of services and hours at the Corona Sexual Health Clinic and the second installment of the “¡Listos!” campaign. “¡Listos!,” which translates to “Ready!,” was the Health Department’s first awareness campaign to be conceived of and largely released in Spanish. The new version promotes HIV testing, prevention and treatment among Latino gay and bisexual men and other men who have sex with men, abbreviated as MSM. Latino MSM are a steadily growing share of New Yorkers diagnosed with HIV and in 2016 comprised more than 20 percent of all new diagnoses in the city. The campaign was unveiled at the Corona Sexual Health Clinic in Jackson Heights, Queens, which serves more Spanish-speaking patients than any of the agency’s eight Sexual Health Clinics. The clinic is now open five days a week (instead of two) and offers expanded services, including same-day initiation of pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, a safe, daily pill that greatly reduces the risk of HIV infection, and quick start contraception. The Health Department commemorated National Latinx AIDS Awareness Day with an outdoor community health fair featuring free HIV and tuberculosis testing, flu vaccinations and naloxone training.
“National Latinx AIDS Awareness Day is a wonderful opportunity to address the stigma of HIV in the Latino community,” said Acting Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot. “The launch of the second installment of our ‘¡Listos!’ campaign and expanding the hours of our Corona Sexual Health Clinic will provide more access to HIV testing and PrEP, which is crucial in combating the HIV epidemic. These measures will get us one step closer to our goal of ending the HIV epidemic in New York City by 2020.”
“The ‘¡Listos!’ campaign exemplifies the Health Department’s commitment to advancing health equity and racial justice,” said Dr. Oni Blackstock, assistant commissioner for the Health Department’s Bureau of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control. “It is our goal that by taking a strengths-based, sex-positive approach, the campaign will empower Latino MSM to take control of their sexual health by getting tested and treated for HIV, and by considering PrEP as an HIV prevention strategy.”
In New York City, in 2016, Latino MSM had the highest number of new HIV diagnoses across all racial/ethnic groups of MSM in New York City. To ensure the new “¡Listos!” campaign resonates with Latino MSM, the Health Department solicited feedback from select members of the New York City HIV Planning Group, a community advisory body focused on HIV prevention, and held five consumer focus groups—four in Spanish and one in English. The Health Department recently established a community advisory board consisting of Latino MSM and their providers. The Project Sol (Strengthening outreach and linkage) CAB works to ensure that the Health Department’s high-impact HIV prevention activities and partner services for Latino MSM are addressing the needs of Latino MSM in an affirming and culturally responsive manner. Like the first installment of “¡Listos!,” the campaign encourages New Yorkers to consider PrEP as part of their sexual health toolkit, but it tailors the message to resonate with Latino MSM. The new campaign will appear in local newspapers, at local businesses, on the radio and on digital media.
In addition to “¡Listos!,” the Health Department will release a Dear Colleague Letter encouraging medical providers to support the sexual health of Latino MSM. The letter asks providers to ensure a welcoming clinical environment to encourage Latino MSM to seek care and disclose their sexuality, offer regular screening for HIV and other STIs and discuss PrEP as an HIV prevention option, particularly with men who express interest in PrEP or have a recent diagnosis of a bacterial STI. The letter also asks providers to inform men—regardless of their HIV status—that HIV treatment can quickly reduce one’s viral load to an undetectable level, which protects the health of people with HIV and their sexual partners.
“The ‘¡Listos!’ campaign will promote HIV testing, prevention and treatment in the Latino gay and bisexual community, where there’s been an increase in New Yorkers diagnosed with HIV,” said Assistant Speaker of the New York State Assembly Felix W. Ortiz. “I urge everyone at risk to take advantage of this program.”
“The expansion of the Corona Sexual Health Clinic is great news for residents of Northwest Queens,” said City Council Member Daniel Dromm. “Latinx New Yorkers who are gay, bisexual and those who identify differently but have sex with men are disproportionately impacted by HIV. These additional days of operation and expanded services will help us end the epidemic in NYC by 2020. I thank the Health Department for launching the ¡Listos! campaign and prioritizing this important work.”
The city’s eight Sexual Health Clinics offer low- to no-cost sexual health services to anyone 12 or older, regardless of immigration status or insurance coverage. The Corona Sexual Health Clinic continues to provide state-of-the-art prevention services including the following:
Express STI testing. STIs such as syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia often have no symptoms and can cause irreversible damage if left untreated. Anyone 12 or older can receive screening for syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhea and HIV, even if they have no symptoms.
Emergency post-exposure prophylaxis, or PEP. All eight Sexual Health Clinics offer the full, 28-day course of PEP, making this emergency medication more convenient for patients with possible recent exposure to HIV. The clinics administer the entire regimen, including all of the monitoring and follow-up care, and they can facilitate the transition from emergency PEP to daily PrEP.
JumpstART. Through the JumpstART program, patients living with or recently diagnosed with HIV, who are not currently on treatment, can immediately initiate HIV medication on the day of visit with linkage to longer-term HIV primary care.
Counseling services. All Sexual Health Clinics have social workers on-site who can help patients with a variety of issues, including substance use and depression.
