Evidence has shown that people with HIV who live below the federal poverty level are less likely to adhere to ART, compounding their risk for negative health outcomes and increasing the chance they will transmit the virus. SNAP can mitigate those risks by providing short-term poverty relief, according to Aaron Richterman, MD, MPH, an assistant professor of infectious diseases and medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.
Speaking to a large group of attendees at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, Richterman presented findings from a small study conducted among SNAP recipients receiving HIV care in Philadelphia who reported missing at least two doses of ART medication in the last month.
“To our knowledge, this is the first study to causally link SNAP payment with ART adherence, showing that monthly variation in financial stress influences daily health behavior,” Richterman and colleagues wrote in their abstract. The results, they said, “underscore the importance of poverty alleviation for HIV outcomes.”