TITUSVILLE, N.J., Oct. 25, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Janssen Therapeutics* announced today the recipients of funding from a special Request for Applications (RFA) to encourage comprehensive community-based care models that enhance the ability of Blacks and African Americans living with HIV to access and sustain care and treatment in the southern United States and other rural areas. This is the 10^th RFA from Janssen Therapeutics in support of community-based programs for people living with HIV and regional training programs for allied healthcare workers.

The RFA process aims to help local non-profit organizations in their mission to improve access to healthcare. In the United States, African Americans and people living in the South experience a greater burden of HIV compared with other racial or ethnic groups and regions. Across the country and in the South, African American women and African American men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM) are disproportionately impacted.¹ Of all African American MSM diagnosed with HIV nationally in 2014, more than 60% were living in the South.² Further, of all women diagnosed with HIV in the South, 69% were African American.²

"Community-based organizations play a critical role in providing wrap-around services, healthcare navigation assistance, and education to people living with HIV," said Richard Nettles, Vice President, Medical Affairs, Janssen Therapeutics. "At Janssen Therapeutics, we're committed to addressing HIV-related healthcare disparities that burden disadvantaged communities, particularly in the South, where a confluence of structural factors contribute to significant gaps in HIV care."

Over the last decade, Janssen Therapeutics has awarded more than $3.9 million to local United States-based organizations through targeted RFAs. Funds have helped numerous community organizations advance efforts to reduce HIV-related health disparities and increase access to care in accordance with the goals of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy. This year's award recipients are listed below:

• AIDS Action Coalition of Huntsville (Huntsville, AL)
• AIDS Service Center of Austin (Austin, TX)
• AIDS Services Coalition (Hattiesburg, MS)
• Brotherhood, Inc. (New Orleans, LA)
• Community Health Interventions (Fayetteville, NC)
• Comprehensive AIDS Resource Encounter, Inc. (Jesup, GA)
• Jacksonville Area Sexual Minority Youth Network, Inc. (Jacksonville, FL)
• The Open Door, Inc. (Pittsburgh, PA)
• Rain, Inc. (Charlotte, NC)
• The Women's Collective (Washington, DC)

Janssen Therapeutics invited United States-based 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations to submit proposals in response to a targeted RFA distributed earlier this year. Outcomes-driven programs that incorporate peer support and encourage novel collaborations were given preference, and organizations in the southern United States and other rural areas where HIV programs and services are under-resourced were prioritized. The Janssen Therapeutics Charitable Contributions Committee evaluated proposals against key criteria, and this year's recipients are being recognized for their efforts to enhance collaboration between non-medical and medical service providers, expand case management services, provide transportation assistance in rural areas, broaden peer-based services and mentorship opportunities, and improve HIV education and health literacy. 

Committed to Supporting Underserved Communities
Janssen Therapeutics provides mission-based support for local programs and services and national advocacy efforts that address unmet care and health care access needs for people living with HIV and/or hepatitis C.

The company periodically issues RFAs specifically intended to address an emerging unmet health care need within underserved communities. This is the 10^th funding initiative since 2008, contributing more than $3.9 million collectively to community-based charities and national advocacy organizations that support people living with HIV and/or hepatitis C.

To learn more, visit http://www.janssen.com/us/grants-and-giving/charitable-contributions.

About the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies
At the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, we are working to create a world without disease. Transforming lives by finding new and better ways to prevent, intercept, treat and cure disease inspires us.

We bring together the best minds and pursue the most promising science. We are Janssen. We collaborate with the world for the health of everyone in it. Learn more at www.janssen.com. Follow us at @JanssenUS.

*Janssen Therapeutics, Division of Janssen Products, LP is part of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies.

1. CDC. Fact Sheet: Trends in U.S. HIV Diagnoses, 2005 – 2014. February 2016. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/docs/factsheets/hiv-data-trends-fact-sheet-508.pdf. Accessed October 24, 2016.
2. CDC. Issue Brief: HIV in the Southern United States. December 2015. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pdf/policies/cdc-hiv-in-the-south-issue-brief.pdf. Accessed October 24, 2016.

Media contact:
Rebecca Genin
Mobile: (215) 620-8721         

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SOURCE Janssen Therapeutics