Area 7 HIV & AIDS Program

The Area 7 HIV & AIDS Program at the Florida Department of Health in Orange County provides technical assistance to support the HIV/AIDS Care and Prevention Education services offered at the Florida Department of Health facilities and Community Based Organizations located in the following counties: Brevard, Orange, Osceola, and Seminole. For more information, contact the Area 7 office at: 407-723-5066.

The program primarily focuses on the following services:

• Patient Care
• Prevention
• Surveillance

 HIV Patient Care Referral  

The Patient Care Program is supported with Federal funding allocated to the State through the Ryan White Treatment Modernization Act of 2009. The funds are distributed to eligible agencies through a competitive bid process conducted by the Lead Agency for Area 7, the Heart of Florida United Way. These funds are used to support services to eligible individuals living with HIV disease. These services include, but are not limited to:

• Outpatient Ambulatory Medical Care
• Oral Health
• Pharmacy
• Medical Case Management
• Mental Health and Substance Abuse
• Medical Transportation
• Health Insurance Premium and Cost Sharing
• Medical Nutrition Therapy
• Non-medical Case Management
• Food Bank and Home Delivered Meals

 For more information on Ryan White services and how you can get involved please visit Orange County Government - Ryan White Information

Prevention Referrals

The Prevention Program helps prevent HIV & AIDS by providing High Impact Prevention (HIP) Strategies that includes extending the following testing initiatives: 

• Healthcare Center for the Homeless (clinical site)
• The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center (community site)
• Hope and Help Center of Central Florida (community site)
• Miracle of Love, Inc. (community site)
• Healthy Relationships- Small groups for men and women living with HIV
• Mpowerment-This community-level intervention is for young gay and bisexual men of diverse backgrounds. It mobilizes men to reduce sexual risk taking, encourages regular HIV testing, builds positive social connections and supports peers to have safer
• BRTA – Business Responds to AIDS
• Linkage to Care- HIV counseling/testing/linkage/referral services provided to persons who are unaware of their HIV status by using existing social network strategies.
• Condom Distribution
• Interventions

Resources:

Ending the HIV Epidemic Ending the HIV Epidemic: A plan for America (EHE), is a bold plan that aims to end the HIV Epidemic in the United States by 2030. The goal of the plan is to reduce the number of new HIV infections in the United States by 75% within five years and then by 90% within 10 years for an estimated 250,000 total HIV infection averted.

Strategies to achieve the EHE Goal

• Diagnose all people with HIV as early as possible.
• Treat people with HIV rapidly and effectively to reach sustained viral suppression.
• Prevent new HIV transmissions by using proven interventions, including pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and syringe services programs (SSPs).
• Respond quickly to potential HIV outbreaks to get needed prevention and treatment services to people who need them.

Florida has 7 Ending the Epidemic Areas including:
Broward, Duval, Hillsborough, Miami-Dade, Orange, Palm Beach and Pinellas County.

For more information please go to Talk Test Treat Central Florida to get resources on testing locations, requesting free home test kits, and treatment services for HIV and PrEP. Together let’s get talking, get tested, and get treated. Whether living well with HIV or working to prevent it, everyone can thrive .