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Prevention Programs for Priority Populations

The AIDS Administration provides funding, technical assistance and capacity building support for the local health departments and community-based organizations that offer risk reduction counseling and education and prevention interventions for these priority populations:

• Prevention with Positives
• Prevention with Incarcerated Persons
• Men's Programs
• Women's Programs
• Injection Drug Users
• MSM/ Transgender
• Hispanic HOLA Program-Heterosexual Hispanic Adults
• Latino High Risk Youth Program
• Youth, including Sexual Minority Youth

Prevention with Positives

The AIDS Administration is enhancing prevention activities with HIV positive individuals in a variety of settings across Maryland. These programs use both individual and group interventions to teach HIV positive individuals the skills to develop healthy relationships, make safer choices, and help them maintain the difficult treatment regimen associated with HIV disease. Curricula include Healthy Relationships and Positive Wellness and Renewal (POWER).

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Prevention with Incarcerated Persons

The Division of Correction and local detention centers identify men and women in incarcerated settings throughout Maryland who are HIV infected or who have a history of behavior that puts them at high risk for becoming HIV infected. This target population is provided with HIV prevention interventions such as the Men's Curriculum, Prevention Case Management, and Project SMART. These programs use comprehensive multi-session curricula ranging from five to eight weeks that focus on improving participants' knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs toward HIV prevention; condom usage; and assertive communication.

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Men's Programs

Local health departments, substance abuse treatment centers, and community-based organizations in Maryland provide men at risk of becoming infected with HIV with a new five-session intervention, Pharaoh, focusing on HIV/STD prevention as well as proper condom usage skills.

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Women's Programs

Many local health departments and community-based organizations across the state of Maryland have implemented the SISTA (Sisters Informing Sisters about Topics on AIDS) intervention for women at risk of becoming infected with HIV. This five-session intervention provides skills training and practice to encourage consistent condom use to prevent HIV transmission. Five two-hour weekly sessions focus on HIV risk-reduction information, sexual negotiation skills, proper condom use and development of partner norms supportive of consistent condom use.

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Injection Drug Users

Vendors throughout Maryland target injecting drug users with evidenced-based group level interventions including Project SMART and Extra Steps. Many interventions take place within substance abuse treatment programs and other community-based venues.

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MSM/ Transgender

Community-based organizations in urban areas provide men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender populations evidence-based, HIV-prevention interventions including Healthy Relationships and POWER. Providers are also receiving Living Out Loud: How To Serve Transgender Clients Where They Are, a cultural competence training for serving transgenders.

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Hispanic HOLA Program-Heterosexual Hispanic Adults

The Salud es Vida curriculum is a three module, 13-session HIV risk reduction social skills intervention, developed specifically for heterosexually active Hispanic adults. Based on the educational theories of Pablo Freire, this small group intervention provides skills training and practice to encourage consistent condom use and communication skills to prevent HIV transmission through culturally appropriate and sensitive modules. Thirteen, 3-hour weekly sessions focus on HIV risk-reduction information, sexual negotiation skills, communication skills, proper condom use and development of partner norms supportive of consistent condom use. Group discussion, lecture, role-play and written homework enhance retention of program learning.

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Latino High Risk Youth Program-Heterosexual Hispanic Youth

Projects targeting high-school age Latino youth use the Identity Positive Youth Development (PYD) program, a leadership development and HIV/substance abuse prevention after-school curriculum. This program teaches goal setting, communication and relationship skills, leadership, and HIV prevention education.

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Youth, including Sexual Minority Youth

Street and community outreach activities recruit high-risk heterosexual and sexual minority youth into small HIV-prevention and health education groups. In the Working It Out and Believe The Hype curricula, youth are trained to become Peer Educators within their social networks and serve as a referral point for other youth. Peer Educators also partner with service providers to plan and facilitate multi-session, group level interventions for their peers. These sessions focus on skills building activities, health education, teen pregnancy, drug abuse and communication. High-risk individuals are referred to HIV Counseling, Testing and Referral Services (CTRS) and additional health services, if required.

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