BTAN Charlotte Offers 3-Day Science and Treatment Training

Solita Jefferies, Patient Navigator in HIV and Community Services, Mecklenburg County Health Department

Black people are often underrepresented at international and other conferences where news about HIV/AIDS is released, including the most recent scientific and biomedical breakthroughs.

To bridge that gap, the Black AIDS Institute, in partnership with BTAN (Black Treatment Advocates Network) Charlotte, hosted the BTAN 3-Day Science and Treatment Training at the city's Hal Marshall county office building June 7-9, 2017. The extensive effort to bring area HIV health-care providers and advocates up to speed included participants from neighboring Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, N.C.

Epidemiological specialist Donna Smith, with the Mecklenburg County Health Department, provided an overview of the HIV epidemic in the county.

Black AIDS Institute Program Coordinator Lestian McNeal and Mobilization Coordinator Marie-Fatima Hyacinthe provided basic HIV and treatment information, as well as the latest scientific and biomedical research presented at recent conferences. They also discussed topics specific to Black communities, including the history of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Black America, medical mistrust, and social determinants of health, advocacy and cultural competence.

"The objective of the training was to engage community members and share new information, data and issues affecting the Black community," McNeal says. In fact, BTAN Charlotte's membership coordinator, Solita Jefferies, who is also a patient navigator for the health department's HIV/STD Services and Community Health Services, expressed that for her, the key point was not the content but the "community of people who work in HIV and other areas of public health coming together. That doesn't happen often in Charlotte."

"About 40 people attended every day, which is a really good turnout for us, and it wasn't the usual people, either. There were people from different programs and nonprofits that had not participated in BTAN," says Hannah Stutts, a grant coordinator for the health department and the secretary of BTAN Charlotte's executive board.

"We had people there with different levels of knowledge about HIV—some who were just getting into the field, some that were veteran HIV professionals; people on the prevention side and the care side of the HIV continuum," says BTAN Charlotte chair Jeffery Edwards-Knight, a supervisor in the HIV/STD Community Testing and Outreach Program.

The training provided the same information and understanding to individuals who had various levels of HIV knowledge, arming them to present a consistent message to the community. "That's been one of the issues: people getting different messages and confusing messages," Edwards-Knight says.

"It is essential that we all be at the same starting point," Stutts says.

On the last day of the training, attendees were given action steps to follow in their various advocacy initiatives.

"They didn't just hand you the information and say we're done; they gave you the action items and a framework in which to use it," Stutts adds. "So many times you go to trainings and conferences, and all you get is information. They're like, 'Well, the HIV epidemic in the Black community is enormous.' You feel terrible, like you don't have a way to make a difference. This training gave you those tools and left you feeling like you would be able to make a difference."

The HIV rate in Mecklenburg County is not as high as in other areas of the South. According to the N.C. HIV/STD Prevention and Care Unit's Mecklenburg County Line List, the percentage of new infections among Black men is five times that of White males; the percentage of new infections among Black females was 12 times that of White females. Still, the number of people newly diagnosed with HIV in 2015 is 7 percent lower than in 2014. BTAN Charlotte intends to help reduce those numbers further.

"The science and treatment information provided at this training, coupled with the tools to take actions steps, will have a direct impact on the epidemic here. It will allow us to identify the key stakeholders, educate them with the most up-to-date information, and they can then disseminate that information to the community at large," Stutts says.

As a result of the training, 10 new people have joined BTAN Charlotte. "We will use the training to build up our chapter," Edwards-Knight says.

April Eugene is a Philadelphia-based writer.