AIDS 2012 Abstract - HIV clinician training on the United States (U.S.)/Mexico border: experiences from a 10- year multi-center collaborative of the Health Resources and Services Administration AIDS Education and Training Centers (AETCs)

MOPE726 - Poster Exhibition

HIV clinician training on the United States (U.S.)/Mexico border: experiences from a 10- year multi-center collaborative of the Health Resources and Services Administration AIDS Education and Training Centers (AETCs)

T. Donohoe¹, N. Mandel², M. Bernstein³, M. Guerrero⁴, L. Bradley-Springer⁵, M. Reyes³, K. Khamarko², D. Travieso-Palow⁶

¹UCLA Pacific AIDS Education and Training Center, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, United States, ²National Evaluation Center, AIDS Education and Training Centers, San Francisco, United States, ³Pacific AIDS Education and Training Center, UCSF School of Medicine, San Francisco, United States, ⁴Texas/Oklahoma AIDS Education and Training Center, Parkland Health & Hospital System, Dallas, United States, ⁵Mountain Plains AIDS Education and Training Center, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, United States, ⁶Health Resources and Services Administration, HIV/AIDS Bureau, Rockville, United States

Background: The U.S./Mexico border region has some of the worst disease outcomes, poorest communities, and most mobile populations in the U.S. Border clinicians consistently request HIV-related trainings that target local health departments and rural counties, and address cultural sensitivity, HIV co-morbidities, and bi-national perspectives. Since 2002, three regional AETCs serving the border region (the Collaborative) have provided border-specific HIV training, technical assistance, and website access (AETCBorderHealth.org) to create border-specific education opportunities and resources. The Collaborative has expanded to include other federal training centers, the U.S./Mexico Border Health Commission, and the Migrant Clinicians Network.
Methods: We used standardized process and outcome data collected during Collaborative training and capacity-building activities to assess access to and participation in programming offered. We also examined website usage.
Results: The Collaborative has trained more than 5,000 providers and delivered more than 500 hours of technical assistance on clinical management, bi-national healthcare delivery and organization, prevention, behavior change, HIV testing, and special populations, including gay, transgender, incarcerated, and migrant groups. A strong focus has been placed on retaining people in HIV care. Our 2010 border symposium, for instance, focused on TB, STDs, HIV, hepatitis C, and retention in care. Our website, which includes access to the Border HIV Resources Directory and a training blog, has received more than 100,000 page views from the United States, Mexico, and other nations. Bilingual continuity-of-care fact sheets for HIV-infected migrants returning to Mexico were downloaded more than 5,000 times. These approaches have been shown to create innovations that address evolving healthcare systems and help mobile patients access and remain in HIV care.
Conclusions: Multi-center, multi-modal approaches to clinician training address health disparities and improve HIV knowledge, referral options, and treatment access. In 2009, a Human Rights Watch international report concluded the Collaborative “serves as a model?and should be expanded where feasible.”
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