Dr. Jessy Dévieux Receives FIU-RCMI Supplement
Dr. Jessy Dévieux, Professor, Department of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, has received an FIU-RCMI supplement to address health disparities in engagement, retention, and utilization of PrEP among women of color in South Florida. Women of color (WOC) in South Florida, the region with the highest HIV rates in the U.S., experience significant barriers to accessibility, uptake, and utilization of Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention, despite FDA approval since 2012. The purpose of this study is to use a Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approach to finalize, and pilot-test a multi-component evidence-based intervention to reduce health disparities in engagement, utilization, and retention in PrEP care, with the goal of improving HIV prevention outcomes for the target population of WOC in South Florida, primarily African American, Latina, and Haitian women in three designated Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) counties: Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.