Ann Infect Dis Epidemiol | Volume 2, Issue 3 | Review Article | Open Access
Goulda Downer*
Department of Infectious Disease, Howard University College of Medicine, USA
*Correspondance to: Goulda Downer
Fulltext PDFHoward University College of Medicine, with funding from the Norflet Progress Fund launched “Project Resilience”. This HIV prevention program targeted 100 youth between the ages of 13 and 22 residing in Wards 7 and 8 in the District of Columbia (DC). Wards 7 and 8 are the two most economically disadvantaged communities in the District of Columbia. They are also home to the highest proportion of racial/ethnic minorities – 95 percent of the Ward 7 population is Black non- Hispanic as is 94 percent of the population in Ward 8. The Project sought to identify the factors that enable some persons living with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) including HIV, in high risk settings to remain negative while others living in the same environments contracted these diseases. We would then use the information gleaned to assist persons at risk for STDs and other HIV to remain negative. At 2%, and despite a positive downward trend, HIV in Washington, DC continues to meet the World Health Organization’s definition of a generalized epidemic i.e. over one percent of the population being infected. Similarly ‘The statistics cited above, coupled with the high rates of STDs among our youth and which are often viewed as precursors to HIV infection, the driving force behind Project Resilience. Researchers created and implemented a locally-driven, culturally competent, prevention education and social marketing campaign that stressed the assets that youth in these communities have that enable them to stay HIV negative. Strengthening partnerships and establishing working relationships with community stakeholders, researchers conducted intensive recruitment drives to publicize the training and engage the target population. Each training session lasted two hours and involved a mix of didactic mini-lectures, role plays, question and answer, and other interactive features. Additionally an HIV/AIDS peer education curriculum which covered HIV 101 – a summary of the basic facts about HIV prevention, transmission and treatment as well as a discussion points of some of the common myths about HIV that circulate within the target population. A total 382 African American seronegative youth aged 13 to 22 and residing in Wards 7 and 8 in DC were trained as HIV peer educators. The cohort included 235 females and 147 males. A full 100% of the trainees reported that they are still seronegative at the end of the eighteen month intensive effort. Almost 85% of those who are sexually active report using a condom consistently and correctly when having sex. The project was well received and most importantly, yielded a positive impact on STDs including HIV.
Downer G. Partnering with the Community to Craft Locally Appropriate, Culturally Competent Responses to Health Problems While Building the Community’s Capacity to Lead and Sustain the Identified Solutions. Ann Infect Dis Epidemiol. 2017;2(3):1019.