The Houston Health Department (HHD) requests City Council approval of a grant between the City of Houston and the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control for the City’s HIV Prevention Activities Reducing HIV Infections and Improve Engagement in HIV Medical Care among Men Who Have Sex With men (MSM) and Transgender Persons. The grant period is 9/30/2015 through 9/29/2016.
Harris County spans over 1700 square miles and contributes 92% of both new HIV diagnoses and persons living with HIV (PLWH) in the Houston Eligible Metropolitan Area (EMA). At the end of 2013, there were an estimated 22,337 people living with HIV in Houston/Harris County. The rate of new diagnoses and PLWH is higher in Houston/Harris County than in the Houston EMA, state of Texas, and the United States overall.
With an inadequate population-based surveillance estimate of HIV among transgender Houstonians, the Houston Health Department looks to other sources of evidence of the burden among this population. As of 2010, the surveillance system only captured 29 transgender persons living with HIV in Houston/Harris County. However, Ryan White served 68 transgender clients in 2011. This discrepancy in surveillance was identified by a study conducted specifically among this population. In 2012, 135 transgender or gender non-conforming people living with HIV participated in a study of access to HIV care.
The purpose of this project is to prioritize MSM and transgender persons at high risk for HIV infection, particularly persons of color, by implementing new strategies that will reduce HIV transmission in Houston/Harris County.
HHD also requests City Council to authorized the Mayor Director or his designee to to act as the City's representative in the application process with the authority to apply for, accept and expend the grant funds, as awarded, and to apply for and accept and expend all subsequent awrds, and authorize the Mayor to execute all related contracts, agreements and documents with the approval of the City Attorney in connection with the grant and to authorize the Director or his designee to act as the City’s representative in the application process with the authority to apply for, accept and expend the grant funds, as awarded, and to apply for and accept and expend all subsequent awards, if any.