Latino MSM Needs Assessment Releases Results

        The HIV Health Services Planning Council recently released the results of its latest needs assessment on Latino men who have sex with men (MSM) in San Francisco, San Mateo, and Marin counties. This needs assessment focused on how Latino MSM engage with the system of care, and the results revealed that this community encounters significant cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic barriers. This needs assessment is the first of its kind to be produced directly by Planning Council staff, and the number of participants and focus groups far exceeded previous those of needs assessments conducted by outside contractors.

Participants reported encountering barriers on several different levels: severe poverty, homelessness, linguistic challenges, cultural differences, and issues around legal status barriers.  This group reported severe levels of poverty, with 55% bringing in less than $10,000 a year, and 14.3% receiving no income whatsoever. Monolingual Spanish speakers were almost 10% more likely to have been homeless or marginally housed in their lives than other Latino MSM participants.

Despite significant barriers and challenges, participants reported a high level of treatment adherence and viral suppression, well above the national average. This suggests that the SF model of care is working to engage and retain those in care. While the high rates of viral suppression and treatment adherence indicate positive health outcomes, these outcomes exist within a setting of severe poverty, indicating a set of clearly unmet needs.

In light of these results, the Council emphasized several conclusions on how to better serve this population. Providing services in Spanish and bridging language barriers are essential for addressing the needs of this population. It is important to measure non-clinical health indicators to better address socioeconomic barriers to wellness. Support services providers must be equal partners with medical providers in order to ensure quality support in addition to quality medical care.

The HIV positive Latino MSM community faces issues that not only constitute barriers to care, but also barriers to voice and representation. As we move into an era of healthcare reform, it is crucial to ensure that this population does not fall through the cracks.

 

Ali Cone
Program Coordinator
SF HIV Health Services Planning Council

 

CAEAR Coalition Mourns the Death of Randy Allgaier: A True Champion for People Living with HIV/AIDS

Reprinted with permission from The CAEAR Coalition original article
(Washington, DC)––The CAEAR Coalition community celebrates the life and mourns the passing of our colleague and leader Randy Allgaier who died on November 27 in San Francisco. A longtime advocate for people living with HIV and LGBT equality, he was a member of CAEAR Coalition for the past seven years and served on our Board of Directors as the Chair of the People Living with HIV/AIDS Caucus since 2008. At the time of his death, he was Director of the San Francisco HIV Health Services Planning Council, of which he had previously served as Co-chair.

We are thankful for his commitment to people living with AIDS by working to ensure access to quality medical care and treatment for all. We honor his passion, his sense of justice, his humor, and his work ethic.

Earlier in his career, he was the state advocate for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, where he took a leading role in building a statewide coalition that successfully advocated for significant increases for California’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program. He was also very active in the areas of HIV and Medicare/Medicaid and served on the Board of Directors of National Positive Working Coalition. As an animal lover, one of his proudest achievements was his service as President of the Board of Pets are Wonderful Support (PAWS) in San Francisco. He was also a founder of the state-wide LGBT advocacy organization Equality California and served on the Board of Directors of the Human Rights Campaign. To all of these endeavors he brought his signature passion, creativity, and diligence to the work at hand.

Randy will be fondly remembered and deeply missed. We send our love and prayers to his husband Lee Hawn and the rest of his family.

San Francisco HIV Health Services Planning Council Commemorates the 20th Anniversary of the Ryan White CARE Act