Inclusion and Partnership: Social Change in the US Affiliated Pacific Islands

The panel will present a model for Social Change as seen in the US Affiliated Pacific Islands (USAPI). Since 2004, the Office of Minority Health Resource Center has been working with local, regional and federal partners to implement a project aimed at increasing the organizational capacity of HIV prevention and treatment services including TB/STDs co-infections within the USAPI. This project focuses on building the ability of organizations and community leaders to partner with their local and regional health departments to strategically address HIV/AIDS/TB/STDs throughout the Pacific. During the course of this project, they discovered a need for systemic change in order to impact their specific goals. What ensued was a process of inclusion, representation, and a respect for local voices that has resulted in a promising practice for those working in remote or distant locations. Going against traditional thought, this process of social change has been positively engaging, transformative, and led to increased changes in agencies providing health care to individuals impacted by HIV, AIDS, TB, STDS, and other related issues. Panel members will discuss the process taken to achieve these positive results and the various activities involved, especially the roles that Inclusion and Partnership have played in these promising and measurable activities. Learn how this process has been supported, evaluated and sustained to produce positive change for all in these remote and often challenging locations.