Dr. Quintin Robinson: How to End Atlanta’s HIV Epidemic

HIV infection remains a serious public health issue in the state of Georgia. In 2015, Georgia was ranked the fifth-highest in the nation for new HIV diagnoses, after Florida, California, Texas and New York. There were over 2,500 new diagnoses of HIV in 2015 in Georgia and the majority were men. The highest percentage of new HIV/AIDS diagnoses was seen among those aged 30 to 39. Atlanta ranked fifth among metro areas for new HIV cases with a rate of 25.8 new diagnoses for every 100,000 residents – more than twice the national rate.

Monitoring the HIV epidemic and understanding the burden of HIV in Georgia are essential for the 2020 National HIV/AIDS Strategy goals of reducing HIV infections, increasing access to care and optimizing health outcomes for those with HIV, reducing HIV-related health disparities and achieving a more coordinated response to the epidemic.

Opportunities to curb the rate of new infections in Georgia include:

Treatment as Prevention (TasP): prescribing antiretroviral medications to those who are living with HIV in order to reduce the amount of virus in their blood to undetectable levels so that there is less risk of transmission of HIV.

Increasing the number of people who are tested for HIV and made aware of their diagnosis.

Access to quality health care, including insurance coverage, medication accessibility and increasing the number of qualified HIV providers available to give care.

Addressing mental illness and behavioral health issues, poverty, stigma, homelessness, food insecurity, homophobia and health literacy, which will help with better health outcomes and access to healthcare.

Decriminalizing HIV, which will lead to more people becoming aware of their diagnosis without fear of prosecution.

Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP): medication, along with a comprehensive prevention strategy, to decrease the risk of acquiring HIV.

Awareness of PrEP among high-risk populations must be increased and affordability of this program must be explained.

There also is a need for increased provider awareness, knowledge and willingness to prescribe PrEP, along with comfortably discussing sexual health with an affirming and non-judgmental approach.

As each of these factors is addressed, access to quality care and treatment can become more ensured, and we can move closer to ending the epidemic. As HIV healthcare providers, we work daily to ensure that we move closer to these goals.

Absolute CARE Medical Center & Pharmacy’s Dr. Quintin Robinson is board certified in infectious diseases and internal medicine, and is certified by the American Academy of HIV Medicine. The board-certified infectious disease providers and staff of AbsoluteCARE Medical Center & Pharmacy have been dedicated to providing comprehensive, patient-centered care to those living with HIV in Atlanta for nearly 20 years.