New Jersey Technical Assistance & Capacity Building: Harm Reduction Health and FIMR-HIV & Congenital Syphilis

The FXB Center works in partnership with the New Jersey Department of Health to provide technical assistance and capacity building to healthcare providers to improve outcomes for people who use drugs and pregnant people.

The program includes:

Harm Reduction Health

The FXB Center provides technical assistance and training to healthcare providers who deliver care at harm reduction centers. The program works to be a safe, non-judgmental space for all clients to reduce harm in their lives while empowering each person to engage in improving and maintaining their own health. As part of the whole-person wellness approach, the program provides health education, harm reduction counseling, sexually transmitted infection (STI) screening & treatment, wound care, Narcan training & distribution, and linkage to additional healthcare services.

Fetal and Infant Mortality Review (FIMR)-HIV & Congenital Syphilis Methodology

This methodology identifies opportunities for improvement in the delivery of health systems for women with HIV and their infants through a system of case abstraction, maternal interviews, case reviews, and community action. The FXB Center has worked with community partners to implement the methodology in Newark since 2011. The program was expanded statewide in 2022 to include cases of HIV exposure and congenital syphilis. In collaboration with key agencies and stakeholders, the FXB Center implements priority actions to improve healthcare services and prevent perinatal HIV and congenital syphilis. For additional information, visit http://www.fimrhiv.org/. Tools on congenital syphilis prevention for providers and community members were developed and include available resources in NJ. They can be downloaded from the NJDOH website. To order free printed copies, please contact Liz Lazo at eir8@sn.rutgers.edu.

Sharing Expertise

The FXB Center provides training and education to varied audiences on topics related to the elimination of perinatal HIV including training on pre-pregnancy counseling & infant feeding recommendations, the prevention of congenital syphilis, and harm reduction.

For more information, contact:

Joanne Simone, RN, MS
Education Specialist
973-972-9230
phillijm@sn.rutgers.edu