For Immediate Release
August 20, 2009
Contact: Katrina Norfleet
301-587-1600
media@mayatech.com
The MayaTech Corporation to Present at National HIV Prevention Conference
Silver Spring, Maryland (August 20, 2009 )— On Tuesday, August 25, 2009 at the National HIV Prevention Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, The MayaTech Corporation's Kelly E. O'Bryant will report on an assessment of technical assistance needs and trends of federally-funded HIV programs targeting racial and ethnic minority communities. The conference is convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and is the premier national forum for discussion of advances in HIV prevention policy and practice.
Programs that provide substance abuse and HIV-related services to minority populations are frequently challenged in their attempts to meet the comprehensive client care needs associated with HIV infection, high-risk behaviors, substance abuse, and psychiatric co-morbidities. Different federal agencies have been providing a wide range of technical assistance to these programs under the congressional Minority AIDS Initiative (MAI) appropriations over the past decade. Ensuring that such assistance results in increased success rates of programs in achieving better client outcomes requires continuous assessment and understanding of infrastructure, training, clinical, and governance capacities.
Ms. O'Bryant will present findings from an analysis of MAI-funded programs targeting over 80,000 racial and ethnic minority substance abuse clients across 33 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. She will discuss the complex and varied needs these clients present that often overwhelm the capacity of service agencies to address, and underscore the critical importance of integrated capacity building assistance.
Ms. O'Bryant is Technical Vice President and Manager of the Center for Technical Assistance, Training, and Research Support at The MayaTech Corporation. She has extensive experience in designing and implementing technical assistance systems to community-based HIV prevention and treatment programs across the nation.
The MayaTech Corporation is a leading research, consulting, and information technology company that provides applied social science research and evaluation, business services, technical assistance and training, and international development services to public and private sector clients. For additional information, please contact Katrina Norfleet at media@mayatech.com .