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September 2007 Monthly Monitor
Advocates for Youth's Youth of Color Initiative
Feature: HIV and Young American Indian/Alaska Native Women
Social, economic, and cultural barriers limit the ability of many American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/AN) young women to receive accurate and adequate information on preventing HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STI)s. Young native women need culturally competent, affordable services which build on their assets. Additionally, there is a striking lack of research on cultural issues that influence the reproductive and sexual health of American Indians/Alaska Natives, less on AI/AN adolescents, and even less on young American Indian women. Following is a list of recommendations to effectively serve AI/AN young women within prevention programming.
- Native youth should be included in creating, designing, and implementing programs and policies around sexuality education.[1,2]
- Many opportunities exist for involving native youth and empowering them to teach their peers; successful approaches have included:
- peer education through traditional and contemporary cultural performance activities;
- cultural enrichment and community involvement for young people; programs focused in athletics or the arts;
- and programs that emphasized the individual's importance in helping the whole community.[3,4]
- Young native women need comprehensive sexual education, including information about both contraception and condoms as well as abstinence. An important step is integrating condoms into Native cultures. For instance, one researcher suggests packaging the condoms discreetly, so that AI/AN young people feel more comfortable receiving them, and distributing them at powwows and other ceremonies, clinics, and social events.[5]
- Young AI/AN women need access to confidential, culturally competent health care.[6]
Read the full publication here.
References
- Vernon IS. "Prevention of HIV/AIDS in Native American Communities: Promising interventions." Public Health Reports 2002; 117: s96-s103.
- Simoni JM. "Triangle of Risk: Urban American Indian Women's sexual trauma, injection drug use, and HIV sexual risk behaviors." AIDS and Behavior 2004; 8(1): 33-45
- Steenbeek A. "A holistic approach in preventing sexually transmitted infections among First Nation and nuit adolescents in Canada." Journal of Holistic Nursing 2004; 22(9): 254266.
- Aguilera S. "Culturally appropriate HIV/AIDS and Substance Abuse Prevention Programs for Urban Native Youth." Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 37 2005; 37(3): 299-304.
- Gilley BJ. "'Snag Bags': Adapting Condoms to Community Values in Native American Communities." Culture, Health, and Sexuality 2006; 8(6): 559-569.
- Saylors K. "Native women, violence, substance abuse, and HIV risk." Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 2005; 37(3): 273-280.
Capacity Building & Professional Development
The United States Conference on AIDS 2007 will take place in Palm Springs, CA from November 7-10. The largest AIDS-related gathering in the United States, USCA brings together over 3,000 workers from all fronts of the HIV/AIDS epidemic - from case managers and physicians, to public health workers and advocates - to build national support networks, exchange the latest information, and learn cutting-edge tools to address the challenges of HIV/AIDS. For more information please visit: http://www.nmac.org/home/
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's Creating Change Conference will be held February 6th thru February 10th in Detroit, MI. It is the nation's preeminent political, leadership and skills-building conference for the LGBT movement. During the past two decades, Creating Change has been the place where thousands of committed people have developed and honed their skills, celebrated victories, built community, and been inspired by visionaries in movements for justice and equality. The deadline for submission of workshop proposals is September 30, 2007.The conference registration deadline is January 15, 2008. For more information, please visit: http://www.thetaskforce.org/events/creating_change
The 2007 Healthy Teen Network Conference will be held November 14-17, 2007 in Baltimore, MD. The conference titled "On Their Turf: Creative Approaches to Supporting Teens & Young Families," will feature advances in the fields of teen pregnancy, parenting and prevention and offer concrete strategies to increase participants' ability to serve youth in the 21st Century. This conference will also showcase tools and creative approaches to engage teens and young families as well as new sources of support, education and resources for reaching "hard-to-reach" youth. For more information please visit: http://healthyteenconference.org
Funding
The Liberty Hill Foundation's Queer Youth Fund is now accepting Letters of Intent for the 2007-2008 cycle. The Queer Youth Fund makes multi-year grants to grassroots, local, state and national nonprofit organizations anywhere in the United States working to improve the quality of life among gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (GLBTQQ) youth. The Queer Youth Fund awards grants to innovative and effective leadership development programs or organizing projects that empower GLBTQQ youth to improve societal conditions affecting GLBTQQ youth and which make a long-term difference to their movement. Deadline for Letters of Intent October 2, 2007. Up to four $100,000 grants, payable over three to five years, will be made to different 501(c)3 organizations (or groups with fiscal sponsors) with specific work that matches the guidelines. Eligible organizations must have a total budget for their youth work of $750,000 or less. The grants review committee may, at its sole discretion, award smaller grants. For additional information, please contact Carol Lee at clee@libertyhill.org and to download a PDF or MS Word version of the guidelines and application, please go to: http://www.libertyhill.org/qyf/
Announcements
HRSA Releases Cultural Competence Guide: The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, in collaboration with the HRSA Centers of Excellence (COE) program, encourages the teaching of cultural and linguistic competency content in the educational curricula of HRSA grant recipients. "Transforming the Face of Health Professions through Cultural and Linguistic Competence Education: The Role of the HRSA Centers of Excellence," is the product of this intention and the result of the efforts of HRSA and the COEs. For more information, please visit: http://www.hrsa.gov/culturalcompetence/curriculumguide
On August 23-26, the Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women's Health hosted the 2007 Minority Women's Health Summit to address health disparities among women of color living in the United States. The goal of this Summit was to focus on the often unrecognized threats to health experienced by women of color by building on knowledge gained in previous conferences, identifying distinct health issues disproportionately impacting minority women, and highlighting successful models of health promotion and prevention. Please visit http://www.kaisernetwork.org to view webcasts and transcripts of summit speakers.
Resources
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