Social Determinants of Health and Disparities in Linkage to Care Among Newly Diagnosed HIV Cases – South Carolina 2009–2011

摘要

BackgroundKey to improved HIV outcomes is early diagnosis, linkage to care (LTC), retention in care (RIC) and viral load (VL) suppression. As treatment for HIV has become more effective, the gap in racial disparities has widened for LTC, RIC and VL. Social determinants of health (SDH) are conditions such as poverty level, income, education, employment that are responsible for most health inequities. SDH are drivers of disparities in HIV prevalence. The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of SDH on racial disparities on time to LTC for newly diagnosed HIV infected individuals in South Carolina (SC).