RAPID, Restart & Retention Committee

The overall goal of the RAPID (Rapid ART Program Initiative for HIV Diagnoses) program is to create a set of “hubs” around the city where persons newly diagnosed with HIV (or out of care) can rapidly access antiretroviral therapy (ART) and have a smooth transition to their medical home. In order to accomplish this goal, a RAPID steering committee established hub locations, standard operating procedure (SOP) for ART start, and SOP for transition to a primary medical home. The committee works with SF Department of Public Health surveillance (now “ARCHES”) to track the uptake and outcomes of persons participating in the program. We build on the existing LINCS programs at SFDPH to create and support hubs for rapid initiation of ART to individuals.

We start ART:

Within 48 hours –

  • If acute/early infection (recent negative Ab test, RNA+/Ab– or recent symptoms of acute retroviral syndrome) or
  • Evidence of advanced infection (opportunistic infection or a CD4 count of less than 200)

Within 5 days –

  • All other newly HIV-diagnosed persons

The program aims to provide ART for up to 5 days for these individuals until they are transitioned into their medical home.

RAPID Resources

RAPID News & Updates

San Francisco at CROI 2018 – Poster Presentations

Several abstracts were accepted for either poster or oral presentation at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) conference held in Boston this week. The following were presented for poster presentation.   Abstract Number: 908 DEGREE OF HOUSING INSTABILITY SHOWS INDEPENDENT “DOSE-RESPONSE” WITH HIV SUPPRESSION Poster: http://www.croiconference.org/sites/default/files/posters-2018/1430_ClemenziAllen_908.pdf Abstract: http://www.croiconference.org/sessions/degree-housing-instability-shows-independent-%E2%80%9Cdose-response%E2%80%9D-hiv-suppression  Angelo A. Clemenzi-Allen, Elvin Geng, Katerina A. Christopoulos,…

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11/29 World AIDS Day Consortium Meeting

The Getting to Zero Consortium met on the evening of November 29th to commemorate World AIDS Day. The meeting opened with a moment of silence to remember the near 250 San Franciscans, 6,000 in the US and 1 million globally who have died from HIV-related illness and to show support for those currently living with HIV.…

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September 28, 2017 GTZ Consortium Meeting

The Getting to Zero SF Consortium gathered September 28th for its quarterly meeting. Opening the meeting, Dan Bernal, Chief of Staff to Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and San Francisco Health Commissioner, gave an informative national and local health policy update. Susan Scheer, Director of SFDPH HIV Epidemiology and Surveillance, presented encouraging data from the 2016 HIV…

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