Assessing the Impact of a Community-Wide HIV Testing Scale-Up Initiative in a Major Urban Epidemic

The Bronx, one of the five boroughs of New York City (NYC), has a high HIV burden. In the current study, the research team evaluated the impact of HIV testing efforts, including the 2008 campaign called "The Bronx Knows."

Data from an annual telephone survey representative of NYC adults were used to compare 2005 and 2009 estimates of HIV testing prevalence among residents of the Bronx and to identify correlates of testing. The team used NYC HIV surveillance data to evaluate changes in the percentage of persons who concurrently received a diagnosis of HIV infection and AIDS, an indicator of delayed diagnosis of HIV infection.

Relative increases of 14 percent and 32 percent were found in the proportion of Bronx adults who had ever tested for HIV and who had been tested in the past year, respectively (p<0.001), between 2005 and 2009. The largest increases were noted among those ages 24-44, men, non-Hispanic blacks and Hispanics, persons with low income or education, non-heterosexual identity, a personal doctor/provider or health insurance. Factors found to be independently associated with testing recently included black or other race, Hispanic ethnicity, and bisexual identity.

A 22 percent decrease in the number of people concurrently diagnosed with HIV and AIDS was seen from 2005 to 2009, and the decreases generally took place among subgroups that were experiencing increases in HIV testing.

"Community-wide testing in the Bronx increased the proportion of people with known HIV status and reduced the proportion with delayed diagnosis," the authors concluded.

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