Community Input for Effective HIV Prevention for African Immigrants in California
Yewoubdar Beyene, UC-San Francisco
Social and Behavioral
2005
Background: Immigrants from the continent of Africa are the most recent immigrant population in the US and steadily growing. California hosts the greatest number of these immigrants. The majority of these immigrants come from sub-Saharan Africa where over two-thirds of all people are now living with HIV. Reports from community clinics and state health data suggest that HIV/AIDS rate of infection and risk behavior are significant problems in the African immigrant communities. Despite these realities, HIV intervention efforts have largely overlooked African immigrant communities. Currently, there are no culturally informed educational interventions targeting African immigrants in California.
Methods: Using focus group interviews with African immigrant communities' key informants, the goals of this feasibility study are 1) to explore cultural response to an existing basic HIV transmission prevention training module and the acceptability of the format and wording of the various topics addressed and 2) integrate community input into the intervention module to develop a culturally informed educational intervention that can be used by African immigrant communities within California.
Expected Results: This study takes the first steps in developing culturally acceptable HIV educational intervention for African immigrants. The resulting module will be further tested in future studies addressing HIV education in this population.
