UHealth, the University of Miami Health System, opened a new HIV specialty clinic in its Palmetto Bay location. Run by Dushyantha Jayaweera, MD, the clinic brings high-quality specialty care closer to the southern neighborhoods of Miami.
“We’re here, right in your neighborhood, and we’re experts in the field,” Jayaweera said in a UHealth press release.
The clinic offers routine HIV testing, treatment and related services, including prevention, such as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). The clinic also provides treatment of coexisting conditions, preventive screenings and related support, hepatitis C care, gynecological services and pediatric and primary care.
Florida consistently ranks among the states with the highest HIV prevalence and diagnoses rates. In 2023, Florida ranked third in the country for new HIV diagnoses (23 per 100,000 population), and Miami-Dade is among the top five areas with new HIV diagnoses (44 per 100,000 population) in the state according to AIDSVu.com, an interactive site that presents HIV data in charts and maps.
Despite the high rates of HIV, 69.3% of Floridians diagnosed with HIV are virally suppressed, according to UHealth. And 88% of Floridians with HIV who are in care maintain a suppressed viral load, illustrating that access to a clinic is a vital component of health.
People with HIV who achieve and maintain viral suppression experience slower disease progression, enjoy better overall health and are less likely to develop opportunistic illnesses. What’s more, people with an undetectable viral load don’t transmit HIV to others through sex. This is known as treatment as prevention, or Undetectable Equals Untransmittable (U=U).
The clinic has opened at a time when state-funded resources and services for HIV and AIDS are losing funding. Last week, the Florida Department of Health announced funding cuts to the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), tightening eligibility from 400% to 130% of the federal poverty level, ending insurance premium assistance and restricting access to modern single-tablet HIV treatments.
The cuts to Florida’s ADAP affect these HIV meds:
| Drug: Biktarvy (most prescribed) | |
|---|---|
| Drug Class and regimen | Complete regimen, one tablet once a day |
| Impact of Funding Cut | Removal from prescribed formulas |
| Drug: Descovy | |
|---|---|
| Drug Class and regimen | Nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), one tablet once a day |
| Impact of Funding Cut | Restricted to people with renal insufficiency |
To learn more about ADAP funding cuts in Florida, read here “DeSantis Puts Tens of Thousands of Lives at Risk by Gutting Florida’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program” and “Florida’s Changes to Its AIDS Drug Assistance Program Will Cause Harm.”
