San Francisco — once considered the heart of the HIV epidemic — has become a model for treatment of the virus.
The city hit a record low last year with 302 new HIV diagnoses — down 87 percent from its 1992 peak of 2,332 new cases, according The New York Times. San Francisco is ahead of the game compared to the rest of the country as well. The CDC estimated in 2012 about 39 percent of Americans infected with HIV had seen a physician, compared to 82 percent of San Francisco residents with HIV who had sought care, according to the report.
In fact, the report notes that the World Health Organization's new guidelines for treating and preventing HIV. include a lot of strategies San Francisco already uses.
Here are five ways San Francisco is successfully treating and preventing HIV, as presented by The New York Times.
1. The city is nimble and willing to pioneer new tactics. In the eighties, it was the first to open a dedicated AIDS ward and test the first antiretroviral drug. In the nineties, it gave out clean needles to drug users, according to the report.
2. Similarly, San Francisco was an early adopter of the "test-and-treat" method. This method gives patients antiretroviral drugs as soon as they are confirmed positive with HIV. Some physicians oppose the test-and-treat method, saying the side effects of the drug and ability to develop resistant strains make this a poor choice. However, the city found it had to change something when it hadn't moved the infection rate for over a decade, according to The New York Times.
3. It launched a preventive drug program in 2013. Called PrEP for pre-exposure prophylaxis, the program offers the drug Truvada to everyone at risk and to uninsured patients for free. The FDA approved Truvada in 2013 as an effective way to prevent HIV infection. The drug still carries some stigma, as those who use it may be less incentivized to use condoms and are then at risk for other venereal diseases, according to the report.
4. The city has incorporated it into public school education. According to the report, ninth graders in public schools learn about PrEP in sex-ed classes.
5. San Francisco's care coordinators work to make sure HIV infected residents do not fall through the cracks. As part of a program called Linkage into Care, navigators track down patients — especially the city's homeless — and make sure they are adhering to their medications and appointments.
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