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ViiV HEALTHCARE FOCUSING RESOURCES ON HIV/AIDS’ SHIFTING EPICENTER IN THE SOUTH

Thinking Differently to End the Epidemic in the South

Black women living with HIV featured from ViiV’s report – Networks That Care: An Ethnographic Research Study of Black Women in New Orleans.

While the HIV/AIDS epidemic is frequently stereotyped as a health challenge associated with urban life, the South is home to the majority of people living with HIV and new cases nationwide, with almost half of diagnoses each year being made in this region.

As the only company solely focused on HIV, we know it’s about more than just medication—it requires courage, creativity, and collaboration. To address this landscape, our commitment to supporting local organizations and empowering communities is paving the way for a brighter future in the fight against HIV.

We believe that the key to ending the HIV epidemic lies in fostering deep, collaborative partnerships with the communities most affected. Our commitment to communities and organizations in the South drives our innovative work and Positive Action programming. Since we began, ViiV Healthcare has been committed to disrupting disparities in HIV hand-in-hand with community in the South, providing over $80 million in funding to 300+ community-based organizations across 110 cities since 2010.

Through major initiatives, like our Positive Action AMP Grant, we’ve focused on uplifting new voices and supporting grassroot leaders who are making change. Our partners use funds to try new ideas, expand their current programs to reach more people, and enhance their skills and capacity to end the epidemic. Positive Action resources help people, programs, and places across the South to reach and engage more people in care, expand networks of support, and fuel the advocacy needed to keep HIV a public health priority.

Take Leisha McKinley-Beach, Project Share and Josh McCawley, Teen Health Mississippi for example, two AMP grantees who are doing courageous work in the South.

Project Share is tackling HIV criminalization, laws that criminalize people living with HIV based on their HIV status (e.g., for non-disclosure of status, etc.) in Southern states. “This is our way of raising awareness … so that people know what the laws are within their state, but also how to protect themselves and the ones that they love…,” McKinley-Beach explained.

Teen Health Mississippi launched MYInnovation – a six-month program that provides HIV treatment and preventive health education, skills training, and mentorship for those aged 18-25. “ViiV Healthcare’s Positive Action funds have significantly impacted our HIV response in the South by enabling us to collaborate directly with young people most affected by HIV,” McCawley said.

Our work goes beyond funding – it's about investing in relationships, strengthening collaborations and co-creating strategies that help reach and engage the communities we serve. Through our unique model that goes beyond traditional funding relationships, we collaborate closely with our grantees to co-create strategies and solutions specifically tailored to the unique needs of the communities we serve.

“We are keeping our eyes on the prize of disrupting the enduring diagnosis, treatment and prevention disparities in the South,” says Marc Meachem, ViiV’s Head of External Affairs, North America. “We’re partnering with and resourcing the community organizations that are best placed to accelerate the response to HIV."

Our Positive Action work provides funding for organizations that reach those most often left behind, supporting efforts that disrupt disparities in HIV prevention and care.

ViiV’s Southern grantees have been at the forefront of innovative strategies for years. In the past three years alone, they have reached more than 150,000 people by:

  • Linking and re-linking tens of thousands of people to HIV services through 145 peer navigators and 49 PrEP navigators
  • Making 55,000+ connections to essential support services
  • Starting and expanding over 130 networks that address isolation and stigma, share information and connect people to care
  • Engaging 8,000+ Southerners through advocacy efforts that elevate the voices of people living with HIV and keep HIV a public health priority

Our programs run the gamut from deep listening to community engagement to prevention initiatives and cultural arts programs. One common thread through these initiatives is our commitment to ensure that the voices of under-represented and historically marginalized groups inform the way we fight disparities—so that our approach remains guided by the community for the community.

Randevyn Piérre
RANDEVYN PIÉRRE

ViiV’s Director of U.S. External Affairs, Community Liaisons

The success stories emerging from the work with our grantees are a testament to the power of community-driven solutions. By addressing the HIV epidemic from multiple angles—prevention, treatment, and advocacy—we are making significant strides in improving health outcomes and enhancing the quality of life for those affected by HIV in the Southern United States.

Learn more about our work in the South here.