RME Collaborative Partners With Southeast AIDS Education & Training Center to Host Two-Part CME/CE Webinar Series on HIV PrEP in Rural and Underserved Areas
TRUMBULL, CT, April 5, 2021 — RME Collaborative, an educational division of Talem Health, is excited to announce a new partnership with the Southeast AIDS Education and Training Center (SE AETC). Their shared goal is to deliver high-quality medical education to clinicians in rural and underserved areas of the Southeast in order to increase their capacity to adapt and implement evidence-based HIV prevention interventions.
The rural South faces the highest rates of HIV infection, illness, and deaths in the country. In addition, a variety of pervasive barriers in the region—including lack of transportation, HIV-related stigma, distance to care, clinician shortages, and limited resources or medical services—can complicate HIV prevention efforts. These challenges make it critically important for healthcare professionals who serve these areas to be trained on HIV prevention, including oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). However, despite its proven efficacy in reducing HIV transmission, only 18% of the 1.2 million Americans eligible for PrEP receive it.
To address these issues, RME Collaborative and the SE AETC will host a free two-part CME/CE webinar series entitled Preparing Primary Care Clinicians for PrEP: Addressing HIV Care Gaps in Rural and Underserved Communities in the Southeast. The webinars, scheduled for April 23, 2021 and April 30, 2021, will focus on culturally appropriate risk assessment; HIV prevention methods, including PrEP; and strategies to overcome barriers in rural and underserved communities in the Southeast. During the live Q&A segment, participants will have the opportunity to ask questions to faculty in real time.
“We are very proud to join forces with the SE AETC to host this two-part webinar series on HIV prevention in the Southeast,” said Erica Rusie, Vice President of RME Collaborative. “We see tremendous value in the work the SE AETC does, and we look forward to working together to help expand the provision of HIV prevention and improve access to care in rural and underserved communities with the highest needs.”
“Primary care clinicians in rural and underserved settings play a key role in identifying individuals at risk of acquiring HIV and ensuring access to important HIV prevention interventions like PrEP. In this webinar series, we will discuss these topics and ways to address the challenges that uniquely affect rural and underserved communities,” said Paul Sax, MD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, who will serve as the Activity Chair.
About RME Collaborative
RME Collaborative aims to support the professional and educational needs of clinicians caring for patients from rural and underserved settings by providing high-quality, evidence-based continuing medical education. Through strategic partnerships and planning, RME Collaborative devises educational programs that are tailored to the specific challenges of care in rural and underserved communities.
About Southeast AIDS Education & Training Center (SE AETC)
The Southeast AIDS Education and Training Center (SE AETC) is an eight-state consortium that includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. It offers comprehensive, collaborative educational opportunities designed to increase the size and strength of the HIV workforce. It is one of eight training centers founded by the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) to provide training and facilitate dissemination of rapidly changing information about HIV/AIDS for service providers.