During the Feb. 20 meeting, the San Antonio City Council passed an ordinance that approved five agreements with five organizations to combat the HIV epidemic.

The overview

According to city documents, the agreements with BEAT AIDS Coalition Trust, Fiesta Youth, Healthy Futures of Texas, The Center for Health Care Services and San Antonio AIDS Foundation are designed to provide culturally relevant sexual health information, especially for vulnerable populations, such as LGBTQ+ people, Black, indigenous and people of color.

Contracted companies will also provide:

• Outreach and engagement
• HIV testing
• Social service navigation

The agreements with each contractor will run through May 31, 2025, with an option of four one-year renewals. Funding for the project is up to $37,554 for each organization in the initial term and up to $45,060 for each renewal. The total initial term amount for the agreements is $187,770, with a cumulative amount of approximately $1.09 million, including renewals. Funding for the agreements will be taken from the Enging the HIV Epidemic grant.

The background

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched the national Ending the HIV Epidemic Initiative in 2020 with a goal to reduce new HIV infections by 90% by 2030.

According to city documents, the CDC plans to scale up prevention and treatment in 57 priority jurisdictions, including San Antonio. Within these jurisdictions there are 50 localities that account for more than half of all new HIV diagnoses. To coordinate strategies across the nation, these jurisdictions enact four pillars of the program.

Four pillars of HIV Epidemic Initiative:

• Diagnose
• Treat
• Prevent
• Respond

San Antonio received funding from a state pass-through grant from the Texas Department of State Health Services.