'His Health' Is a New Platform Helping Doctors Tackle Implicit Bias In Treating Black Gay Men

While the threat of HIV/AIDS has decreased significantly thanks to advances in antiretroviral therapy, treatment as prevention, and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), black men who have sex with men (MSM) are still affected at a disproportionate rate.

In February, the CDC released an eye-opening study which claimed at the current rate of infection, one in two black MSM will contract HIV in his lifetime.

One of the reasons for the virus's prevalence in the black community is a lack of quality healthcare. The National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD) is addressing this with a new online training platform, HisHealth.org. His Health aims to help doctors, nurses, and medical professionals unlearn racial bias and elevate the quality of healthcare for black MSM.

Recent research found that white healthcare providers harbored "implicit or "subconscious" bias to patients of color which led to their patients receiving inferior care. Furthermore, LGBT people can often face stigma or discrimination in access to healthcare as well as unique health challenges their providers are not always apt to deal with--for instance, one in three primary care physicians and nurses have never even heard of PrEP. And that's certainly not helping the 60 percent of gay and bi men who don't know that PrEP can help prevent the transmission of HIV.

According to a press release, His Health does the following:

- Provides accredited and expert-led continuing education courses that count towards the credits medical professionals already need to maintain their medical licensure.

- Offers portraits of innovative models of care including Project Silk--a CDC funded, Pittsburgh-based recreational safe space and sexual health center rooted in house ball culture--and Connecting Resources for Urban Sexual Health, a sexual health clinic created by and for LGBTQ youth of color.

- Gives easy access to evidence-based resources to support the delivery of high quality, culturally affirming healthcare services for black men who have sex with men.

"There is a lot of discussion right now about implicit bias and police brutality in the U.S.--but the truth is, this is a huge challenge for health care providers as well," said Omoro Omoighe, Associate Director of Health Equity and Health Care Access at NASTAD.

"We know doctors and nurses desperately wish to offer culturally affirming healthcare that is stigma-free to black LGBT patients. With the advent of His Health, they now have the tools necessary to tackle implicit bias and feel more confident in their ability to uplift the standard of care for black gay men while maintaining their licensure to practice medicine."

For more on His Health, click here.