208877 “Forgotten Population” in HIV Prevention beyond the DL —Black/African American men who have sex with women

Monday, November 9, 2009: 3:30 PM

Camille Abrahams, MS , African American Capacity Building Initiative (AACBI), Harm Reduction Coalition, New York, NY
Dorcey Jones, MPH , African American Capacity Building Initiative (AACBI), Harm Reduction Coalition, New York, NY
Adam Viera, MPH , Harm Reduction Coalition, New York, NY
Issues: Behavioral interventions, government funding, social services and media attention targeting HIV prevention among heterosexual Black/African American men lag far behind their representation in the epidemic. There is a need to change the framework under which current prevention intervention models operate.

Description: The African American Capacity Building Initiative (AACBI), a program of the Harm Reduction Coalition (HRC), hosted a community advisory group (CAG) forum with their consumers – staff of community based organizations and health departments – to determine how capacity building assistance can support them in developing and sustaining programs to meet the unique HIV prevention needs of heterosexual black/African American men. The CAG forum included an expert panel sharing research, best practices and strategies for developing HIV prevention programming for heterosexual black men. Afterwards, consumers shared their experiences and suggested potential strategies for engaging the target population.

Lessons Learned: Based on the data collected thus far, there are 5 key issues that are influencing factors for the HIV risk behaviors of Black/African American heterosexual men. They include: (1) healthy relationships with black women, (2) class and poverty, (3) substance use/drug policy, (4) incarceration, and (5) mental health issues. These factors need to be addressed in effective behavioral interventions (EBIs) for the target population, either through the adaptation of existing EBIs or the promotion of “home grown” interventions.

Recommendations: AACBI/HRC was able to develop capacity building strategies, such as a skills-building training for service providers to increase awareness about the population.

Learning Objectives:
1. Demonstrate the need for HIV prevention services targeting heterosexual African American men. 2. List and describe mechanisms (i.e. funding, research, policy, innovative programming) that would allow for the improvement and/or accessibility of services. 3. Identify current HIV prevention related programs and initiatives targeting heterosexual African American men. 4. Identify barriers and solutions to designing interventions and providing capacity building targeting heterosexual African American men. 5. Formulate ideas about potential partnerships and collaborative opportunities to address this issue

Keywords: HIV/AIDS, African American

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been providing training and technical assistance to community based organizations and health departments for over five years. Specifically, my work has been focused on the African American community. I also have a masters degree in nonprofit management, specifically focused on the infrastructure issues of organizations led by African Americans. Lastly, I was recently published as first author for an article in the Journal of HIV/AIDS and Social Services (Vol. 7(4) 2008) entitled, "Lessons Learned: Building the Capacity of Community-based Organizations and Health Departments Implementing HIV Interventions in African American Communities".
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.