Mission and Goals

The Texas Collaborative for HIV Education and Prevention (TCHEP) is dedicated to reducing new HIV infections and ultimately ending the HIV epidemic in Texas by advancing evidence-informed clinical HIV preventive practices and processes.

The TCHEP is funded by the Texas Department of State Health Services, and supported and coordinated by the University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler. An advisory committee of local and state experts and advocates assist in steering the work of the collaborative.

MISSION

The mission of TCHEP is to advance widespread adoption of routine HIV screening and other biomedical prevention interventions such as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and non-occupational post- exposure prophylaxis (nPEP) as standards of care in healthcare settings in Texas through education, advocacy, and policy changes.

GOALS

The goal of TCHEP is to promote the integration of HIV prevention efforts in primary and emergency care settings in Texas based on:

  • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) HIV screening recommendations in healthcare settings, and
  • The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) Grade A recommendations for routine HIV screening and other biomedical prevention practices, including PrEP and nPEP.

In particular, TCHEP aims at:

  • Increasing the number of healthcare systems and medical providers that are educated about the CDC and US Preventative Services Task Force HIV screening recommendations as standard preventive practices.
  • Increasing the number of current and future medical providers who adopt routine HIV screening as a standard of care in emergency and primary care settings in Texas.
  • Expanding educational opportunities for medical provider regarding PrEP/nPEP and other biomedical HIV prevention strategies.
  • Promoting uptake and sustained use of PrEP/nPEP to prevent new HIV infections.
  • Promoting early identification of HIV infections and reducing the number of new infections.
  • Eliciting buy-in, collaboration, and support across healthcare institutions and providers in Texas to create a synergistic HIV prevention network.