CDC e-HAP FYI Updates: CDC Releases MMWR Supplement on Strategies for Reducing Health Disparities Including HIV

CDC e-HAP FYI Updates: CDC Releases MMWR Supplement on Strategies for Reducing Health Disparities Including HIV

Dear Colleague,

Today the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released the MMWR supplement, Strategies for Reducing Health Disparities — Selected CDC-Sponsored Interventions, United States, 2014. This report highlights public health interventions that have been proven effective or showed promise in reducing health disparities for selected social and health indicators, including HIV.

HIV disproportionately effects heterosexual black women and black men who have sex with men (MSM) in the United States. Two HIV prevention interventions are highlighted in the supplement: Healthy Love and Many Men, Many Voices (3MV). The single-session, small group Healthy Love interventionaims to increase condom use by heterosexual black women during sex with male partners; encourage sexual abstinence; increase HIV testing and receipt of test results; and reduce the number of women’s sex partners. The seven-session, small-group 3MV intervention for black MSM, aims to increase participants’ condom use during anal intercourse with male sex partners, reduce the number of male sex partners, and increase testing for HIV and other sexualy transmitted diseases (STDs). HIV infection, along with disparities in childhood vaccination coverage, motor vehicle injuries, and tobacco use that are described in the supplement, exemplify what CDC refers to as Winnable Battles – public health priorities having large-scale health effects for which effective strategies are available to address them.

Healthy Love and 3MV are listed in CDC’s online Compendium of Evidence-Based HIV Prevention Interventions, and intervention materials are available atwww.effectiveinterventions.org. For more information about this supplement, visit http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/ind2014_su.html#HealthDisparities2014.

In recognition of Minority Health Month, CDC’s Office of Minority Health and Health Equity will present a special panel presentation, “Mission Possible – Closing the Gap on Health Disparities”, featuring authors from the MMWR Supplement on Wednesday, April 23^rd, 1:00-2:30 PM, University Park, Columbia Building, conference room #1065-65.