Insignia and Partners Support CDC Demonstration Project for Uptake of Self-test Kits for HIV
May 10 2021 - 6:00AM
Insignia Federal Group, LLC, along with partners Building Healthy
Online Communities (BHOC), Emory University, Keymind (a Division of
Axiom Resource Management), and OraSure Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:
OSUR), was selected by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) to distribute 100,000 HIV self-test kits -- mailed
in discreet packaging, at no charge, to individuals who request
them.
The program will send out OraQuick® In-Home HIV Tests, which
allow an individual to detect antibodies to both HIV-1 and HIV-2
with an oral swab, and provides a result in 20 minutes, at home.
The tests are the only oral fluid rapid over-the-counter HIV test
approved in the U.S. If the test shows a positive result, users
will be directed to go to a health care provider for follow-up
testing.
“We’re excited to make these kits available for free to anyone
in the United States who’s eligible to receive them, particularly
in those communities disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS, and
to assist the CDC’s efforts to end the HIV epidemic,” said Karen
Lee, President of Insignia. “During these times of the COVID
pandemic, it is even more important to provide at-home alternatives
for testing.”
An estimated 1.2 million people in the United States have HIV,
including about 161,800 who are unaware of their status. Nearly 40%
of new HIV infections are transmitted by people who don’t know they
have HIV. Important barriers to HIV testing include underestimation
of risk, stress in waiting for test results, and difficulty finding
time to test. Expanding on BHOC’s TakeMeHome program, which
currently offers HIV test kits through participating health
jurisdictions, this project as part of CDC’s Let’s Stop HIV
Together campaign will offer national distribution starting in 2021
and will run for approximately one year until all 100,000 kits are
delivered. Individuals can request a kit by visiting
https://bit.ly/2QL4pv3.
This large-scale and targeted distribution of self-test kits
will assist CDC in its efforts to increase HIV testing among gay
and bisexual men, transgender women, and racial and ethnic
minorities and contribute to the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the
U.S. (EHE) initiative. In addition to improving and maintaining the
health of people with HIV, HIV testing is the bridge to treatment
and prevention.
“The first step towards ending the HIV epidemic is to know your
HIV status. We are honored to work with this exceptional group of
partner organizations and CDC to make our OraQuick® In-Home HIV
Tests more accessible to the people who need them,” said Stephen S.
Tang, President and Chief Executive Officer of OraSure
Technologies. “We stand ready to help people in the community know
their HIV status and link them to appropriate care.”
InsigniaInsignia Federal Group is a woman owned
small business (WOSB) providing professional consulting and
information technology services to public sector clients. Services
include program and performance management, software and digital
services, data science and data visualization, user experience and
accessibility of systems, and training solutions.
www.insigniafederal.com
Building Healthy Online Communities (BHOC),
co-founded and directed by Jen Hecht, is a consortium of public
health leaders and gay dating website and app owners who are
working together to support HIV and sexually transmitted infection
(STI) prevention online. BHOC collaborates with app owners to
promote testing, provide accurate information, reduce stigma, and
implement the most effective interventions to reduce the impact of
HIV and STIs. BHOC launched TakeMeHome in March 2020. BHOC is
currently housed at San Francisco AIDS Foundation.
www.bhocpartners.org
Emory University Emory’s team is led by Dr.
Patrick Sullivan, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Emory’s
Rollins School of Public Health. Dr. Sullivan served for 14 years
in CDC’s Division of AIDS Prevention (DHAP) and was the Principal
Investigator for CDC’s eSTAMP study, which established the benefits
of distribution of HIV self-tests, as well as CDC’s iSTAMP study, a
large implementation study of the distribution of HIV self-test
kits. https://sph.emory.edu/index.html
Keymind, Division of Axiom Resource Management,
Inc. Keymind is a digital services consulting firm with a
unique combination of technical and creative services. Keymind has
proven and repeatable software development processes -- assessed at
Level 3 of Carnegie Mellon University's CMMI Institute’s
Software Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI-DEV) version
1.3. Keymind’s Agile methodology provides increased speed to
market, with high quality, and reduced cost and risk.
http://www.keymind.com
OraSure Technologies, Inc. OraSure
Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: OSUR) empowers the global
community to improve health and wellness by providing access to
accurate, essential information. Together with its wholly owned
subsidiaries, DNA Genotek, Diversigen and Novosanis,
OraSure provides its customers with end-to-end solutions that
encompass tools, services and diagnostics.
The OraSure family of companies is a leader in the
development, manufacture, and distribution of rapid diagnostic
tests, sample collection and stabilization devices, and molecular
services solutions designed to discover and detect critical medical
conditions. For more information on OraSure Technologies,
please visit www.orasure.com.
Media:Karen
Leekaren_lee@insigniafederal.com
Jeanne
Mellmedia@orasure.com
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