 |
The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
|
The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Susan M. Enguidanos, MPH1, Britt Kirsten Rios-Ellis, PhD2, Maura Dwyer, MPH3, Rocio Leon, BA3, Ruth Roman, MSPH4, Bernardo Useche, PhD3, and Carlos Ugarte, MSPH3. (1) School of Social Work, University of Southern California and Partners In Care Foundation, 101 S. First Street, Suite 1000, Burbank, CA 91502, (818) 526-1780, sengui@aol.com, (2) Health Science, California State University Long Beach, CSULB 1250 Bellflower Blvd, Long Beach, CA 90840, (3) Institute for Hispanic Health, National Council of la Raza, National Council of la Raza, 1111 19th Street Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20036, (4) HIV/AIDS Programs, Health Resources Services Administration, 19359 Circle Gate Drive #201, Germantown, MD 20874
The third part of this program presents the interview data collected from 85 HIV positive Latinas in the 10 national sites. HIV positive Latinas were interviewed to determine their risk behaviors, barriers experienced to HIV prevention, and issues they confront when accessing HIV treatment. In addition, women were asked whether or not they had been exposed to prevention messages prior to their infection. Participant risk behaviors included unprotected sex with clients, unprotected sex with husbands and steady partners, blood transfusions, and injection drug use. Many women did not know of their seropositivity until undergoing routine HIV screening during pregnancy. Some of the women’s partners had admitted not wanting to tell them due to their desire for children. Several participants, depending on the region, discussed issues of discrimination they face when attempting to access services. In addition, sex workers often placed themselves in vulnerable situations due to a lack of treatment programs and their need for money to purchase drugs. Non drug addicted Latinas on the US-Mexico border reported traveling to the United States to engage in sex work while their children were in school due to the lack of gainful employment in Mexico for women over 25. None of the positive women in the study could remember any HIV prevention messages directed at Latinas prior to their infection, but over half could not recite several drug advertisements verbatim. HIV positive Latinas requested assistance with communicating their status with family members and educational programs and messages for the Latino family.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Latinas, HIV Risk Behavior
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: National Council of la Raza and
The Office of Minority Health
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.