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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Nesly Metayer, EDM and Eustache Jean Louis, MD, MPH. Center for Community Health Education and Research, 420 Wahington Street, Dorchester, MA 02124, 617265-0628, ejeanlouis@ccher.org

The Metro Boston REACH 2010 Coalition was developed to respond to the challenges of HIV infection in the Haitian Community. Funded by the Centers for Disease Control's REACH 2010 program, the coalition has developed a comprehensive program with the following components:

1. Community workshops designed for men, women, youth and new immigrants, couples, Haitian living with HIV 2. Change of agents initiative involving faith based leaders, media leaders, business leaders and education leaders in the fight against HIV 3. Community level education: media outreach and advertising campaign, bi-monthly radio programs 4. Cultural competence training to non Haitian providers understanding the needs of the Haitian population 5. Capacity building and community cohesion on developing a community infrastructure to community health intervention.

This comprehensive program has been designed to tackle community perception, community norms, and individual risks and behaviors. Base line data was collected from 2800 Haitians in the Greater Boston to measure the perception, attitudes and knowledge of HIV in early 2002. Preliminary data through the four years interventions will be shared and compared with the baseline info. We have seen an increased participation and involvement community leaders in HIV. We have seen an increased involvement of Haitian Living with HIV facing the stigma in the general population.

Evaluation methods tend to look at each individual component of the intervention. Active work is being done with our evaluators to capture the combined effect of this comprehensive program in the fight against HIV.

Learning Objectives:

• Design a comprehensive program for immigrant groups
• Consider the integration of various approaches in HIV prevention

Keywords: Community Health Planning, HIV/AIDS

Related Web page: www.ccher.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No