God’s Love at the 2020 Ryan White Conference

Alissa Wassung, Senior Director of Policy & Planning

Ryan White is the only federal disease-specific food and nutrition funding. Despite its demonstrated efficacy, benefits vary widely state to state. As such, much of the innovation is happening at the state level.

On Friday, August 14th, our Senior Director of Policy & Planning Alissa Wassung spoke at the Ryan White Conference. The workshop discussed innovative state-based programs in three different states that address the food and nutrition needs of those living with HIV. Alissa shared about our 28 years of experience as a Ryan White medically tailored meal provider and their recent success implementing the Food is Medicine Coalition clinical standards into the NYC EMA.

The workshop then then introduced two recent successful on-the-ground programs in Indiana and Florida that are achieving higher viral suppression, stronger client engagement and improving medication adherence among other favorable outcomes. Partners in Nutrition Indiana described their statewide Ryan’s Meals for Life food and nutrition program started in 2017 and The Poverello Center in Florida detailed their project funded through HRSA HAB’s Using Evidence-Informed Interventions to Improve Health Outcomes among People Living with HIV initiative. Finally, panelists explained remaining barriers to accessing medically tailored meals state and agencies’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Learn more about our policy work here.