The University of Massachusetts Amherst and Tufts Medical Center are conducting a study to provide HIV prevention, diagnosis and treatment for people with opioid use disorders who are incarcerated in the Boston area.

The study is funded by a $4.74 million CONNECT grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Elizabeth Evans, professor of public health education at the UMass Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences, and Dr. Alysse Wurcel, a physician and infectious disease consultant for the Massachusetts Sheriffs Association, will co-lead the research.

Many people with opioid use disorder pass through the cancer and legal systems. Improved access to high-quality, evidence-based treatment for HIV and other infectious diseases in legal settings is critical to addressing the overdose crisis.”

Elizabeth Evans, Professor of Community Education, UMass Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences

Dr. Wurcel adds, “We are trying to increase the number of incarcerated people who are tested and treated. Overall, people who are incarcerated are more likely to test positive for HIV than people who are not incarcerated. According to CDC guidelines, everyone in prison prison is at risk .”

Those who test positive should be given treatment and those who test negative should be offered pre-exposure HIV medications to prevent the disease. Treatment and prevention in prison means taking medicine every day, says Wurcel.

“Dr. Wurcel and I are fortunate to lead this study in collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the Suffolk County Jail System, where there is an unprecedented cross-sector motivation to learn how to improve HIV care for incarcerated people and integrate HIV care into in the prisons’ existing programs,” says Evans.

Initial study activities are focused on developing an intervention program called ID-TOUCH. Linnea Evans and Kaitlyn Jaffe, assistant professors of health promotion and policy at UMass Amherst, are co-leading efforts to examine the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention by incarcerated individuals, Suffolk prison staff and other community-based partners.

“HIV tests and medications that prevent HIV (pre-exposure prophylaxis, known as PrEP) are evidence-based and cost-effective, but do not reach enough justice for the people involved,” says Linnea Evans. “Many are members of minority racial/ethnic groups and live in communities disproportionately impacted by HIV and the opioid epidemic. Addressing the health disparities that these gaps in service needs exacerbate for socially and economically marginalized groups is a key driver of our study. “

The study will serve as the basis for future research that could create a model for HIV treatment and prevention programs for other jurisdictions around the Commonwealth and country.

“Our research will help us better understand how to create equitable access to infectious disease care and treatment for people living in prisons and returning to the community,” said Jaffe. “Along the way, we involve people with lived and lived experience of incarceration and opioid use to ensure that the intervention matches the needs of this population.”