Health & Human services

PARTNER SERVICES

Partner Services is a free, confidential and voluntary service of the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services. Talking to your partners about HIV can be easier than you think. You can talk to your sexual or needle-sharing partner about being exposed to HIV. We can help. 

Partner Services can:

• Coach you on how to tell your sexual or needle-sharing partner about your HIV status.
• Be there with you to answer questions and to give you support.
• Talk to you partner for you, without using your name.
• Make the call… It's CONFIDENTIAL. We're here to help.

For more information, please contact Juan Velasco at 562.570.4121.

Biomedical HIV Prevention Services

PrEP Informational Flyer: English | Spanish | Khmer | Tagalog

What is PrEP?
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (or PrEP) is when people at risk for HIV take daily medicine to lower their chances of getting HIV. Two medications, sold under the brand names Truvada® and Descovy® are approved for daily use as PrEP to help prevent a person without HIV from getting the virus from sex or injection drug use. Studies have shown that PrEP is highly effective for preventing HIV if it is used as prescribed. PrEP is much less effective when it is not taken consistently.

Note: Truvada® for PrEP is recommended to prevent HIV for all people at risk through sex or injection drug use. Descovy® for PrEP is recommended to prevent HIV for people at risk through sex, excluding people at risk through receptive vaginal sex. Descovy has not yet been studied for HIV prevention for receptive vaginal sex, so it may not be appropriate for some people.

How long do I have to take PrEP before it is effective?
When taken every day along with condom use, PrEP is safe and highly effective in preventing HIV. PrEP reaches maximum protection from HIV for receptive anal sex at about 7 days of daily use. For receptive vaginal sex and injection drug use, PrEP reaches maximum protection at about 21 days of daily use.

Is PrEP for me?
PrEP is for people without HIV who are at risk for getting the virus from sex or injection drug use. The federal guidelines recommend that PrEP be considered for people who are HIV-negative who:

• Have a sexual partner with HIV (especially if the partner has an unknown or detectable viral load), or
• Have not consistently used a condom, or
• Have been diagnosed with an STD in the past 6 months

PrEP is also recommended for people who inject drugs and

• Have an injection partner with HIV, or
• Share needles, syringes, or other equipment to inject drugs (for example, cookers)

PrEP should also be considered for people who have been prescribed non-occupational post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) and

• report continued risk behavior, or
• have used multiple courses of PEP.

Coverage
Most insurance plans and state Medicaid programs cover PrEP. Prior authorization may be required. Clients who are uninsured might be able to receive assistance through CDPH program PrEP-AP.

Insurance covered at LBDHHS: full-scope medi-cal, medicare, ppo with patient’s responsibility of out of network cost, PrEP AP. Cash paying clients are also accepted at a sliding scale fee ranging from $100 to $200 per visit based on income.

Medication coverage: There are medication assistance programs that provide free PrEP medications to people with no insurance, through Gilead Advancing Access. More information is available at: https://www.gileadadvancingaccess.com

For more information, please contact our PrEP navigator Luciano Dumonde
Office: 562-570-4396
Cell: 562-964-5369 (call or text)
Email: Luciano.dumonde@longbeach.gov

GET INVOLVED

The Long Beach Comprehensive HIV Planning Group

The Long Beach Comprehensive HIV Planning Group is the local body for HIV prevention and care program planning in the City of Long Beach. The primary task of the Planning Group is to develop a comprehensive HIV prevention plan that includes prioritized target populations and a set of prevention and treatment activities/interventions for each target population.

For more information, please contact Everardo Alvizo at 562-570-4435