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Okaloosa Health Department Wins National Award For HIV Prevention Best Practices

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Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.
Credit iStockphoto
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The Florida Channel

Okaloosa County Health Department received a national award for best practices in working to prevent HIV infections.

The National Association of County and City Officials, or NACCHO, gave Okaloosa County health officials the 2017 Model Practice Award. It’s for developing programs that demonstrate best practices in response to a critical local public health need.

In Okaloosa county, their award winning program is called “Integrating Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, or PrEP, Services into a Clinical Work Environment for HIV Prevention” program. By taking a pill every day, health officials say PrEP is proven to help prevent HIV among those at significant risk.

Out of more than 100 applicants, 41 local health department programs—including Okaloosa’s—won the national award.

For more news updates, follow Sascha Cordner on Twitter: @SaschaCordner .

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