CARE
APLA Health co-sponsored and helped pass Senate Bill 159, the first law of its kind in the nation to authorize pharmacists to furnish PrEP and PEP without a physician prescription. The legislation also prohibits insurance companies from requiring patients to obtain prior authorization before using their insurance benefits to obtain these critical HIV prevention medications.
“We cannot end the HIV epidemic until we ensure that all Californians have access to PrEP and PEP,” said APLA Health Director of HIV Prevention Services Terry Smith. “SB 159 will help to increase awareness of PrEP and PEP, make it easier for people to access these medications from trusted community pharmacists and prevent insurance delays that can put people at greater risk of acquiring HIV.”
SUPPORT
Good health depends on having homes that are safe and free from physical hazards. In contrast, poor quality and inadequate housing contributes to health problems, and can exacerbate chronic diseases.
COVID-19 has placed a lot of people living with HIV out of work and unable to pay rent. Our Housing Support Services team has been working tirelessly, answering phone calls and emails, to make sure that people are able to keep a roof over their head and stay in care.
The funds you raise for AIDS Walk Los Angeles and the noise you make online helps us continue to get people in our community somewhere they can call home.
EDUCATION
Last year, the California Department of Public Health released data showing that sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the state continue to climb and are at the highest levels in 30 years. These sharp increases in STDs are largely due to inadequate funding resulting in a depleted public health infrastructure that is ill-equipped to handle a crisis of this magnitude.
While the world is rightly focused on ending COVID-19, we can’t lose the fight against the epidemics of HIV, hepatitis C, and STDs. APLA Health is working with our state officials to create a statewide plan that would increase education, resources and funding to end the epidemics here in California, the largest state in the country and the one falling behind its peers.
AIDS Walk Los Angeles helps support our advocacy work by providing the collective voice of advocacy to get things done. Be part of our collective voice!