EDITORIAL: Grant for HIV work will make a real difference in Southwest Missouri
Oct. 9—For the past couple of years, the focus in most of health care has been on COVID-19, for obvious reasons.
Now that vaccines for COVID-19 are in circulation, researchers and doctors can return their focus to major illnesses still needing attention, like cancer and other severe diseases.
One of those is HIV, and Access Family Care has been awarded part of a $20 million federal grant to address HIV in Southwest Missouri.
The grant will go toward the expansion of HIV prevention, testing and treatment services at health centers nationwide. Access officials told the Globe last week that the need for such services in Southwest Missouri is "great," as the region has high rates of sexually transmitted infections.
In 2020, Access reported 300 new cases of HIV in its service area, making Southwest Missouri a hot spot for HIV risk. In the past five years, syphilis has also been on the rise in the area. That could be bad news because the trend is that HIV rates follow the pattern of syphilis rates, lagging behind by about five years.
But critically, the grant will help Access work with patients to possibly prevent new cases of HIV by increasing the amount of testing available, increasing the number of prescriptions of prevention medication and getting people who have been diagnosed with HIV into care within 30 days.
Testing and treatment for disease is always needed, but prevention of the disease is the best way to fight and manage it and, potentially, lower the rate of new cases. Good luck to Access in tackling this issue in Southwest Missouri; your work will make a real difference in the lives of many residents.
Fall into fall
Fall finally seems to be here, with cooler temperatures and leaves beginning to change.
Looking for more signs of fall?
Just check out the Globe's calendar of events and news briefs section, which are chock-full of festivals, fairs and other family-friendly events you can attend.
Just in the past week, we've celebrated two major traditions that definitely signify autumn to us: the homecoming parades of Joplin High School and Missouri Southern State University.
You'll find this weekend and in the week ahead stories about another big autumn tradition, Carthage's Maple Leaf Festival, and plenty of other things to do as temperatures drop and sweater weather arrives.
So get out there and enjoy fall and all the events it brings with it.
