KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Choice Health Network has its headquarters in Knoxville, where they work to provide a variety of health services across Tennessee. One of those services includes HIV prevention, and they warned that the program would soon lose funding.
In a release, they said the state announced funding would be cut for HIV prevention, detection and treatment programs not affiliated with metro health departments. They also warned that the funding cuts would be devastating for people served by CHN across Tennessee, especially in rural areas of the state.
They have offices in Knoxville, Chattanooga, Memphis and Cookeville. They said they rely on state funding to provide care for people who do not have access to metro health departments, organizing programs that expand beyond their offices.
The state's metro health departments are mostly located inside of its major cities — Knoxville, Chattanooga, Nashville, Memphis and Jackson.
Choice Health Network said they provided HIV prevention services to people who may not be able to access those health departments. The treatments include PrEP and PEP medications. The first is used to prevent exposure to HIV through sexual contact or injection drug use, and the second can be used after a high-risk exposure to infection.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HIV affects some groups severely and disproportionately. Infection rates among Black communities are around eight times higher than infection rates among white communities.
They also said that "longstanding social and economic factors — including transphobia, stigma, systemic racism, experiencing homelessness or unemployment, and others—have put transgender women at high risk for HIV and made it more difficult for them to access services."
According to CDC data, diagnoses of HIV have risen in Tennessee compared to 2020 and 2019 with 831 cases reported in 2021. Kentucky reported under 400 cases that same year, and Virginia reported 792 cases.
CHN also offers affordable medical care, housing assistance, food and transportation assistance, harm reduction services, and HIV testing. They were named an HIV/AIDS Center of Excellence through 2023 by the Tennessee Department of Health.
They also said that around 14% of Tennesseeans living with HIV do not know their status. They said they could provide testing with results in around 20 minutes.
If more people are aware of their HIV status, they said people can better understand it and help prevents its spread.