African American women in the criminal justice system face a heightened risk of acquiring HIV, particularly during the critical transition from incarceration to the community. Despite this, many lack access to essential prevention services and effective treatments like pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).
Becky White, MD MPH, an infectious disease physician and member of the UNC Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, has been awarded $677,000 by the National Institutes of Health to adapt a formerly incarcerated transition program called “FIT” to provide HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) upon release in community health centers.
The project titled “FIT4PrEP” will leverage the infrastructure of the North Carolina Community Health Center Association and N.C. FIT (Formerly Incarcerated Transitions) model which employs community health workers to connect recently released individuals from prisons or jails with social and medical services through affiliated local re-entry councils and community health centers.
“The immediate period after release from prison is extremely risky for formerly incarcerated individuals, with the risk of death being higher than in the general population, often due to drug overdose,” explained Dr. White, who sees patients at Central Prison in downtown Raleigh and directs HIV services for the N.C Department of Adult Correction Division of Institutions.
“Women often return to the same unstable living environments that contributed to their drug use and subsequent incarceration. Their criminal records exacerbate their disenfranchisement, making it extremely challenging to secure employment and stable housing. This combination of disenfranchisement, limited skills, and high-risk environments often leads women to re-engage in behaviors that increase their risk of HIV.”
The three-year study is a collaboration between UNC Family Medicine (Evan Askin, MD), North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (Sharon Parker, PhD, and Zahra Khalif, PhD), N.C. FIT-affiliated Community Health Centers, and the N.C. Department of Adult Correction.