Ending the Epidemic: Social Determinants of Health for People Living with HIV

Research shows that medically tailored meals help people living with HIV (PWH) remain nourished, adhere to their medications and achieve viral suppression. The same services improve health outcomes and lower the cost of care for PWH. God’s Love We Deliver advocates for the inclusion of our services in care plans for PWH in a number of ways.

Karen Pearl, President & CEO, sits on the AIDS United Public Policy Committee, and Alissa Wassung, Director of Policy & Planning, Co-Chairs the Federal AIDS Policy Partnership Structural Interventions Working Group.

To spread the word, we had the privilege of sharing our work at two key national conferences this fall. In August, our research with Dr. Angela Aidala of Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Dr. David Holtgrave of the University of Albany, which focuses on the cost effectiveness of our services, was featured at the North American Housing and HIV Research Summit Plenary. In September, Karen presented with other Food Is Medicine Coalition colleagues at the United States Conference on AIDS on Food Is Medicine for People with HIV: Addressing Access Barriers through Nutrition Services. We are thrilled that our message reached such large audiences and believe this will help create the momentum necessary to increase the
usage of medically tailored meals to address health needs and contribute to ending the epidemic.