The University of Massachusetts Amherst and Tufts Medical Center are conducting a study to provide HIV prevention, diagnosis and treatment for incarcerated people with opioid use disorder in the Boston area.
The study is funded by a $4.74 million CONNECT grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Elizabeth Evans, professor of community health education at the UMass Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences, and Dr. Alysse Wurcel, physician and infectious disease consultant at the Massachusetts Sheriffs Association, will co-lead the research.
Many people with opioid use disorders pass through the prison and justice systems. Improving access to high-quality, evidence-based treatment for HIV and other infectious diseases in justice settings is critical to addressing the overdose crisis.”
Elizabeth Evans, Professor of Public Health Education, UMass Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences
Dr. Wurcel adds, “We are trying to increase the number of inmates tested and treated. Overall, inmates are more likely to test positive for HIV than non-inmates. According to CDC guidelines, everyone in prison is at risk.”
Those who test positive should be treated, and those who test negative should be given HIV medication to prevent the disease. Treatment and prevention during incarceration involves taking medication daily, Wurcel says.
“Dr. Wurcel and I are fortunate to be able to lead this study in collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the Suffolk County Jail system, where there is unprecedented cross-sector motivation to explore how to improve HIV care for inmates and integrate HIV care into existing prison programs,” says Evans.
Initial study activities will focus on developing an intervention program called ID-TOUCH. Linnea Evans and Kaitlyn Jaffe, assistant professors of health promotion and policy at UMass Amherst, are co-leading efforts to examine the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention among incarcerated individuals, Suffolk correctional staff, and other community partners.
“HIV testing and medications that prevent HIV (pre-exposure prophylaxis, known as PrEP) are evidence-based and cost-effective, but they do not adequately reach people who are in conflict with the law,” says Linnea Evans. “Many are members of ethnic minority groups and live in communities disproportionately affected by HIV and the opioid epidemic. Addressing the health disparities that exacerbate these gaps in care for socially and economically marginalized groups is a key impetus for our study.”
The study will serve as a basis for future research that may lead to a model HIV treatment and prevention program for other Commonwealth and national jurisdictions.
“Our research will help us better understand how to create equitable access to healthcare and infectious disease treatment for people living in prisons and returning to society,” says Jaffe. “We will involve people with first-hand and current experience with incarceration and opioid use to ensure that the intervention is tailored to the needs of this population.”
Source:
University of Massachusetts Amherst
