SSP HIV — SAIA

For the first time in two decades, new HIV diagnoses attributed to injection drug use in the United States have increased, necessitating swift public health action to reverse this trend.

HIV Services in SSPs in the United States

The risk of acquiring HIV is increasing among people who inject drugs (PWID) in the United States due to changes in the drug supply and associated substance use behaviors. While clinical services for HIV prevention (e.g., PrEP, PEP) and treatment (e.g., ART) are safe and effective, access to these services among PWID is limited by multilevel barriers. Syringe services programs (SSPs) offer a promising venue for bringing HIV services to scale for this vulnerable population. In this project, SSPs (n=32) will be randomized to receive SAIA coaching (involving a SAIA specialist guiding them through cyclical steps of process mapping, cascade analysis, and continuous quality improvement) or implementation as usual. This 21-month randomized controlled trial will test the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of SAIA for optimizing HIV testing and referrals to appropriate clinical services for HIV prevention (e.g., PrEP/PEP) and treatment (e.g., ART). If successful, SAIA-SSP-HIV presents an opportunity to improve the delivery of status-neutral HIV screening and referrals for PWID in community settings. ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT06025435.