HIV NAVIGATOR

Durham County Government employs approximately 1,900 employees that work towards providing needed services throughout the community. With a wide array of services, Durham County Government is at the heart of a rapidly growing and diverse area offering residents, employees and visitors exciting opportunities to live, work, grow and play.

GENERAL OVERVIEW:

We recognize ending AIDS requires a comprehensive approach that allows all people to access quality lifesaving and life-enhancing prevention, treatment, care and support services for HIV, tuberculosis, and viral hepatitis. Integrating these services into sexual, reproductive, and mental health services is critical to achieving universal access to health care.

Working together, municipalities can accelerate local actions towards ending the AIDS, tuberculosis, and viral hepatitis epidemics globally by 2030.

Therefore, the primary purpose of this position is to coordinate and implement the Durham Counties Fast Track Cities Ending the AIDS Epidemic to achieve the 95-95-95 targets on the trajectory towards getting to Zero.

• 95% of people living with HIV knowing their HIV status.
• 95% of people who know their HIV-positive status on treatment.
• 95% of people on treatment with suppressed viral loads.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

This position will focus especially on priority populations currently defined by CDC: young black and Latino gay and bisexual men who have sex with men (MSM), transgender women who have sex with men (TWM) and all persons at-risk for HIV.

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  Fast Track Cities Initiative: Oversee the development, implementation, and evaluation of the Durham County Ending the Epidemic Community Action Plan to achieve the United Nation’s 95:95:95 HIV targets.

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  Community Engagement and Recruitment: Lead Fast Track Cities committees (advisory board, task force, and focus groups) to gather stakeholder input and operationalize the Ending the HIV epidemic pillars and strategies. Provide training and education in HIV prevention, PrEP, cultural humility, and anti-stigma. Collaborate with medical providers (Lincoln Community Health Center, Duke, UNC), researchers, community-based organizations, and subject matter experts to develop best strategies for ending the HIV epidemic and to build community capacity for long term HIV prevention efforts in Durham County. Develop and modify policies to improve the care continuum, especially for uninsured high-risk HIV-negative persons and HIV-positive persons who are of care. Examine and evaluate systems that influence HIV testing, linkages to care and stigma.

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  Social Media & Marketing: Coordinate HIV prevention and treatment marketing designed by the community’s high-burden populations. Oversee social media development to reduce HIV stigma and discrimination and promote HIV prevention services.

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  Data Collection and Reporting: Prepare and disseminate periodic reports using tools developed by the Fast Track Cities initiative. Collect data to update the Fast Track Cities Durham Dashboard with County 95-95-95 targets, HIV care continuum metrics and HIV prevention and treatment resources.

• Advance DCoDPH. Priorities: Contribute to Departmental, Interagency, and Community activities that support the health and wellbeing of all Durham County residents and the Durham County Department of Public Health Strategic Plan. Support efforts to advance racial equity and impact health disparities. Document this work in accordance with NC Local Health Department Accreditation Board and the Public Health Accreditation Board. Attend all required Department, Division and supervision meetings. Respond to emergent public health needs.

This position will focus in several targeted areas:

• Enhancing testing, community and provider education;
• Community engagement, advocacy, and policy development;
• Data collection and reporting;
• Treatment and prevention services (PrEP/PEP);
• Stigma and discrimination;
• HIV prevention & treatment marketing campaign (social media);
• Perform other duties as assigned.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES:

• Knowledge of theories, principles, and practices of Public Health Education;
• Knowledge of program planning, implementation, and evaluation principles and methodologies;
• Good interpersonal communication skills and the ability to work effectively with humans of diverse gender identities, races, ethnicities, ages, and sexual orientations;
• General knowledge of community health and human service systems;
• Strong knowledge of principles for local-level coordination of HIV/AIDS response, including PrEP access, treatment as prevention (TASP), and efforts to address stigma;
• Strong knowledge of methods and techniques used in preparing and disseminating educational information to the public;
• Ability to speak effectively in public and to express ideas in writing;
• Ability to establish and maintain good working relationships with individuals, groups, and communities, including departmental personnel, community organizations, and the public;
• Ability to write and speak effectively and to stimulate interest and cooperation among various groups in carrying out a program in public health education;
• Ability to contribute to grant writing, development, and reporting.

MINIMUM EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

Graduation from a four-year college or university with a major in health education and one year of experience in public health education or a related field; graduation from a four-year college or university and two years of experience in public health education; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

To further the mission of the Durham County Department of Public Health (DCoDPH) to partner with our community to advance health equity, protect the environment, and promote health and wellness for all, DCoDPH is implementing the employee vaccination and tuberculosis screening policies. All DCoDPH employees are considered healthcare personnel (HCP) working in a health care setting with the potential for exposure to patients and/or infectious materials and, therefore, are required to comply and provide documented proof of the following:

• Measles, Mumps & Rubella (MMR) vaccination/immunity
• Varicella-Zoster Virus (Chicken Pox) vaccination/immunity
• Tdap (Tetanus, Diphtheria, Pertussis)
• Tuberculosis (TB) baseline screening within the last twelve (12) months prior to employment
• Hepatitis B vaccination/immunity – only required for DCoDPH employees with potential Bloodborne Pathogen (BBP) exposures.

Identified DCoDPH HCP with potential Bloodborne Pathogen (BBP) exposure have an additional requirement for the Hepatitis B vaccination. Required vaccination, serological testing to determine immunity, and baseline tuberculosis screening are available for all Public Health employees who elect to become DCoDPH patients upon request and at no cost.

Proof of vaccination and tuberculosis screening must be provided to Human Resources within seven (7) business days prior to the date of employment.

Durham County Government is an Equal Opportunity Employer