LIHU‘E — Officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are on Kaua‘i today to find out why Malama Pono’s multiple-disease-testing program works so well. The purpose of the visit is to view and evaluate efforts toward prevention
LIHU‘E — Officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are on Kaua‘i today to find out why Malama Pono’s multiple-disease-testing program works so well.
The purpose of the visit is to view and evaluate efforts toward prevention of HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis (hepatitis B and hepatitis C) and sexually transmitted diseases, and the visit by high-level CDC officials marks a first for Kaua‘i, said D.Q. Jackson, executive director of Malama Pono-Kaua‘i AIDS Project.
“They’re coming here to see how we did this,” Jackson said Tuesday.
“Malama Pono integrated prevention for these diseases under the direction of the board of directors because it was what our community needs,” he said.
“Malama Pono has succeeded in integrating HIV/viral hepatitis/STD prevention utilizing local resources. It is expected that the CDC officers will want to know how this was accomplished,” he said.
“It appears that Malama Pono is one of very few community-based organizations in the United States to succeed in integration,” he said.
“Malama Pono’s ability to do this is largely a result of very unusual and strong partnerships with YWCA of Kaua‘i, Kaua‘i Hospice and with the STD/AIDS Prevention Branch of the state Department of Health,” he said.
“Nationally such partnerships are very rare, but seem to thrive on Kaua‘i,” he said.
The CDC officials will also likely be interested in knowing how Malama Pono has been able to provide the multiple-disease testing services with federal funding only for the HIV/AIDS portion of the testing, Jackson said.
“The CDC strongly promotes the concept of integration of HIV/viral hepatitis/STD prevention efforts at the client service level. Integration means utilizing the same techniques for prevention of viral hepatitis and STDS as is done with HIV,” said Jackson.
“HIV prevention techniques and programs are funded by Congress and administered by the CDC directly to state departments of health and to selected large community-based organizations,” he said.
“Prevention for viral hepatitis is not well-funded. On Kaua‘i we have approximately 950 cases of hepatitis B and about 1,500 cases of hepatitis C, which are the major causes of liver cancer and liver failure,” said Jackson, who had been an emergency-room nurse at Wilcox Memorial Hospital before retiring from that position and taking the Malama Pono job.
“Malama Pono will use the meetings with the officers to request further support and assistance with Kaua‘i’s prevention efforts, and will encourage the CDC to use Kaua‘i as a model for integration efforts and to fund a pilot program for effective financing of an integration program,” said Jackson.
“Because of its rural nature and relative isolation Kaua‘i is an ideal candidate for a demonstration project since effects can be readily demonstrated with little clouding by outside influences,” he said.
“Malama Pono will strongly encourage the CDC to develop viral hepatitis prevention programs similar to that provided for HIV and to look for methods of effective funding for those programs,” he said.
“Malama Pono will also request greater attention by the CDC to HIV prevention efforts for Asians and Pacific Islanders.”
Some 69 percent of Malama Pono’s outreach efforts are to Asians and Pacific Islanders. Asians and Pacific Islanders are the group having the fastest rate of increase in HIV infections and are also the group least aware of HIV infections, “that is, nearly 29 percent of the HIV infections in the Asian and Pacific Islander group are unknown by the people infected,” he said.
“People ignorant of their infection are far more likely to transmit the disease than those who know their status,” he said.
“Specifically, Malama Pono will be asking the CDC to be more specific in its statistical analysis and data collection for this group. Rather than lumping all Asians and Pacific Islanders into one category for data collection, Malama Pono believes that it is more helpful to disaggregate data since Native Hawaiians, for example, have a much different rate of HIV infection than, for example, Chinese immigrants,” he said.
The CDC officials include three project officers each specializing in HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis and STDs, respectively, and one HIV/AIDS team leader.
This is the first-ever visit by CDC officers of that level to Kaua‘i, said Jackson, and the first time they have traveled together to make a site visit to a community-based organization (Malama Pono), he said.
While on Kaua‘i they will meet with board members and staff of Malama Pono; staff of YWCA of Kaua‘i and Kaua‘i Hospice; staff of the Kaua‘i offices of the state Department of Health; Mayor Bernard P. Carvalho Jr.; Dr. Jimmy Yoon, an infectious disease specialist; and Dr. Jason Laird, medical director of Ho‘ola Lahui Hawai‘i.
The CDC Web site is cdc.gov.
• Paul C. Curtis, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@kauaipubco.com.
