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Two North Carolina State University
professors have received a $252,000 grant from the National Science Foundation
to create more effective HIV/AIDS education efforts for college-age
African-American women.
“Here in the Southeast of the US,
the prevention of HIV is not on the agenda,” said James Kiwanuka-Tondo, an
associate professor of communications. He and Fay Cobb Payton, an associate
professor of information systems, set out to target black, college-age women
after noticing a lack of culturally relevant prevention messages aimed at this
group.
As part of the effort, focus groups
are being conducted, and HIV prevention messages geared toward young black
women are being analyzed. The team’s findings will be used to develop social
media outreach and other strategies.
Katie Horstman, a social worker at
Wake County Human Services, said most HIV-positive African-American women she
has worked with are being infected in ways that could have been prevented.
Payton and Kiwanuka-Tondo’s research could prove helpful for the peer educators
the county employs to conduct prevention outreach, said Yvonne Torres, HIV and
STD program manager for WCHS.
Naisha Brown, a doctoral student at
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s School of Public Health who
coordinates a program at Christian Faith Baptist Church in Raleigh, also has
noted the growing trend of HIV among young African-American women. She supports
the NCSU effort as long as the messages developed are true to these women’s voices
and avoid reinforcing stigmas and stereotypes.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
