Creating the Plan: A Roadmap
Iowa is making great strides in our efforts to stop HIV. Our state has seen nearly a 30% reduction in new HIV diagnoses since 2016. Iowa ranks second in viral suppression among all states and within the top 3 or 4 states for other key measures along the HIV care continuum.
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Still, challenges remain. To stop HIV, health disparities and other barriers must be addressed for all people. To this end, we're asking for your help in creating a strategic plan to reduce new HIV diagnoses by 75% by 2025 and by 90% by 2030. Our 2020 baseline was 100 HIV diagnoses among Iowans.
Planning Process
Community Engagement
Stop HIV Iowa Planning Kick-Off
On Thursday, January 27, 2022, the strategic planning process officially began with a kick-off event!
Over 170 Iowans took part in the day-long meeting, including community members living with HIV, healthcare providers, and professionals working in public health and social services.
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The day included:
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A welcome by the office of Kelly Garcia, Interim Director of the Iowa Department of Public Health
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Plenary presentation by Randy Mayer, the Chief of the Bureau of HIV, STD, and Hepatitis
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Breakout sessions around the nine focus areas that have been identified as key to stopping HIV in Iowa. Each breakout session included an introduction to the focus area, followed by time for questions, discussion, and brainstorming.
To create the Stop HIV Iowa plan, members of the Bureau of HIV, STI, and Hepatitis worked with the Iowa HIV and Hepatitis Community Planning Group to identify a process that centered community engagement. A community-based participation model was chosen for engaging and collaborating with key stakeholders, who worked together to identify strategies to end the HIV epidemic in Iowa.
To accomplish this work, 33 co-chairs were identified to lead the nine planning focus areas. These co-chairs included community members, bureau staff, people living with HIV, and agency representatives. Following the kick off event, focus area co-chairs conducted focus groups, key informant interviews, and surveys to engage a broad group of more than 3,000 people.
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We asked these individuals to to consider what their lives would be like, and how would it feel, if the HIV virus was no longer a threat to their health or to the health of their communities. Then, we asked them what would need to change to make this happen.
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Ultimately, community participants helped to identify 269 recommended strategies to stop HIV in Iowa. These strategies have been compiled into a draft strategic plan!
Draft Plan
Now, we need your help to finalize the plan to stop HIV in Iowa!
We want to gather even more input and to hear your thoughts:
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Which strategies will work and which might not be as effective?
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Which strategies don’t go far enough or which might be too ambitious?
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What additional ideas should be included?