The Sum of All Fears

Smoking and The Black Person in USA;Taking a Self-Check and 5 things we can do about it

Smoking, African-Americans, Homicides........... Are you ready?

In the US, tobacco use is the number one killer of African-Americans (or black persons). Each year, there are 47,300 tobacco related deaths among African-Americans.

There are things we can do to help stem the tide:

1. Turn all the researched literature on smoking among Black People/African Americas into action against smoking. There are examples of resources such as:

https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0006.pdf.

http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/facts_issues/fact_sheets/toll/populations/african_americans/.

2. Make known the dangers of smoking among African Americans and Black Persons. Use such tools like:

http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/campaign/tips/groups/african-american.html.

3. Initiate and establish no smoke campaigns in communities where African Americans/Black Persons reside. Tobacco use, is related to heart disease, cancer, and stroke. These are the three leading causes of premature death among African Americans and Black persons in USA.

http://www.no-smoke.org/learnmore.php?id=465.

4. Do make statistics your friend and use them to promote information which in turn helps influence the decisions to cease or quit smoking.

http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/sgr/1998/highlights/african_americans/.

5. Talk or write about dangers of smoking.

Smoking is not cool at all. Tell all African Americans and Black People that. Source: Google Images

Source: Google Images

Source: Google Images

Source: Google Images

Source: Google images

Substitute smoke for fruits

Say no to programs that make it normal for African Americans/Black Persons to smoke

Ain't nothing cool about smoking. Source; Google Images

35th anniversary of AIDS this Sunday, June 5th 2016

In advance of the 35th anniversary this Sunday, June 5, of the first reported cases of what would become known as AIDS in the United States,  your community should know the reflections on this milestone.

For more: https://blog.aids.gov/2016/06/35th-anniversary-of-aids-federal-leaders-reflect.html

Meaningful Involvement of People Living with HIV in all HIV-related interventions; The ambitious call

I would  envision People living with HIV being part of the leadership of this community organizing effort. The UNAIDS developed an organogram in which all stakeholders were identified if we were to have effective and meaningful involvement of people living with HIV in aspects affecting them. The organogram lists the following levels: decision-making; experts; implementers; speakers; contributors; target audiences. These are the key community members, gatekeepers, or stakeholders I would particularly include.

A friend asked me to point out crucial relations between the language we use as we provide effective healthcare services in particular for People living with HIV. I suggested it was no less a language thing as much as it is mobilizing beneficiaries and providers around ensuring delivery of services that promote healthy outcomes. These can be the beginnings of a policy change itself. Social marketing, media advocacy and community organizing can be used to promote meaningful involvement of people living with HIV (PLHIV). It can be made an effective empowerment mechanism in giving feedback on how PLHIV are impacted by services they require e.g., health care, medication, housing, communication and modernization of policy. In using the three approaches, there are inbuilt advantages including cultural competency (Bentacourt J.R. 2005), tackling stigma and improving the quality of life for those living with HIV. 

Through social marketing it is possible to influence practices at different levels e.g., decision-making; experts; implementers; speakers; contributors; target audiences (who are almost always not realized to be the subject matter (illnesses) experts).  Social marketing, provides opportunities to implement practices by: accepting a new behavior, e.g., health facilities coming up with say, support meetings and regularized events for people living with HIV; reject a potential undesirable behavior, e.g., adopt language that is not stigmatizing of PLHIV; modify a current practice or behavior, e.g., encourage input in planning and managing of services by PLHIV; abandon an old undesirable behavior, e.g., using preferred language to reduce stigmatization of PLHIV such as adopting the use of terms like mixed status couple/serodifferent and not serodiscordant or use a people first language that emphasizes the person and not their diagnosis (Lynn V. 2016).  Social marketing analyses neighborhoods or key populations and provides appropriate interventions (Farr, M., 2008).  Social marketing promotes participation of consumers in designing mechanisms for airing out their own needs. It is also a mechanism for soliciting solutions from consumers. It sets the stage for healthy outcomes for all population groups and operationalizes policy for well being in society. Social marketing applies principles and techniques to create, communicate and deliver value to influence target audience practices or behaviors that benefit society and target audience (Correil, J., 2010) . For it to be effective, it employs the 4 P’s marketing mix strategies. By 4 P’s  is meant: product; price; place; and promotion. It integrates the 4 P’s in any behavior change, maintenance or adoption strategy. Social marketing is employed in the following areas: 

1. Health promotion-related issues such as: housing, fruit and vegetable intake, heavy binge/drinking, safety in cars, drinking and driving, storage of dangerous materials in homes, tobacco use, breastfeeding, obesity, teen pregnancy, STI’s prevention, oral health, immunization, diabetes, eating disorders and blood pressure.

2. Injury-prevention related behavioral issues such as: syringe exchange sites, decriminalization, safety in cars, drinking and driving, storage of dangerous materials in homes, avoiding falls in buildings, gun storage, domestic violence, injuries, drowning and suicides.

3. Environmental protection- related behavioral issues such as: waste reduction, wild life habitat protection, forest destruction, toxic fertilizers and pesticides, water conservation, air pollution, litter, avoiding unintentional fires and energy conservation.

4. Community mobilization-related behavioral issues such as: safe drinking water campaigns, mosquito net use, decriminalization of HIV, blood donation, literacy, voting, animal adoption, increase utilization of public health services, combat chronic diseases and promote healthy living.

Media Advocacy, is when different communication means are utilized to deliver a message/s that promote/s healthy outcomes (Pérez, L., & Martinez, J. 2008). The communication means can be such as: news broadcast, social media, instant messaging, advertising, skits, information bulletins, public relations, social events, public meetings, exhibitions, sponsorships and use of platforms to continue with a given conversation on healthy outcomes.

Community organizing, is when communities are mobilized to address certain issues. This is effectively done when pretesting/piloting, monitoring and evaluation are integrated in strategies or initiatives (Pulliam, R. 2009). Community organizing is influenced by the social, cultural and regulatory environments prevailing to maximize effectiveness. The events around which organizing occurs may range from: modernizing laws, immunizations to treating Hepatitis. Community organizing is done to yield behavior change or maintain a positive practice (Galer-Unti, R. A., Tappe, M. K., & Lachenmayr, S. 2004).  For meaningful involvement of people living with HIV, organizing is done around: core practice; actual practice; and augmented practice. The core practice in this case is: providing empowerment for PLWHIV to articulate correctly issues pertaining to them in an intervention planning event. The actual practice will be: creating space at the table for PLWHIV to bring their expertise. The augmented practice in this case can be: hearing first hand accounts that can be used to inform planning and policy.

References:

Betancourt, J. R., Green, A. R., Carrillo, J. E., & Park, E. R. (2005). Cultural competence and health care disparities: Key perspectives and trends. Health Affairs, 24(2). 

Coreil, J. (Ed.). (2010). Social and behavioral foundations of public health (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Farr, M., Wardlaw, J., & Jones, C. (2008). Tackling health inequalities using geodemographics: A social marketing approach. International Journal of Market Research, 50(4), 449–467. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

Galer-Unti, R. A., Tappe, M. K., & Lachenmayr, S. (2004). Advocacy 101: Getting started in health education advocacy. Health Promotion Practice, 5(3), 280–288. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

Pérez, L., & Martinez, J. (2008). Community health workers: Social justice and policy advocates for community health and well-being. American Journal of Public Health, 98(1), 11–14. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

Pulliam, R. (2009). Developing your advocacy plan. Health Education Monograph Series, 26(1), 17–23. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

Vickie Lynn, Valerie Wojciechowicz. 2016. HIV Communication: Using Preferred Language to Reduce Stigma.

Love (well....) so much missed; Interrogating my masculinity

                           Nicole met me at the Bernal Heights Park in San Francisco CA and we instantly synched. She asked me out but I first declined, politely. After all, where I come from it is a man, who asks a woman out. But, then again, I consider myself a liberal. We continued meeting, we started having pecks and touches (simply hand holding. Don't get silly ideas. This is America. Loose hands may be mistaken for assault and around here women are powerful litigants). Ask me about Nicole. A white girl who is from Edgartown MA but came to do her University in San Francisco. She is fluent in Italian, Spanish, French and German as well as English. She plays the guitar and she wears high strapping leather boots with those very minimal shorts. One day, I remarked if she was chased out of her house by a fire. "Duh!" Was the best reply I got out of her. Fast forward, we smooched, hugged, romped and said sweet goodbyes to each other. She went to Europe for the summer, their families are spread all over. A distant great aunt in UK; a distant great uncle in France; a cousin in Italy; and sisters and brothers to great granny in Germany or something like that. But, she went to Europe as far as i'm concerned and when she came back we were platonic. We still talk about so many things, especially Massachusetts since I spent two years there and travelled extensively around that part of New England.

I love women. Women rock!

                                She then offloaded me over to LaDiamond (Ladee). They are both buddies from Junior High and to them it was normal to share me between them. Hahahahahahaha! So, Ladee proposed that we should change positions. Positions. I hadn't got the meaning until....... Anyway, fast forward. We disagreed on so many things and most especially, on the subject of my 'people selling her people to the white slave massa.' She is a History and Communication major with a minor in literature. I used to present my best arguments basing my premise on the prevailing global forces of the time. As well as positing the fact that the Industrial Revolution had a gargantuan juggernaut so thirsty that Africa alone could quench it. The spears and skin shields were no match to the Matchlocks, killing machines and subsequent subjugation of Africa. She never expected this diatribe. All the while, I spent with her she had figured me as a simpleton. I once told her that in my culture we had a saying: 'the slackness of a chain is its strength.' She still believes that 'rumble, rumble, rumble is show of strength.' We still see each other but, I never switched positions to this day! Oh, I miss a kind of loving!

Irresistible!

I am a member of this small network that is engaged in ensuring housing is accessible in San Francisco. I live in a very good neighborhood in San Francisco and am very thankful. I admire the housing and decoration that goes into many of the places I look at in San Francisco. For instance:

All pictures courtesy of Trulia.

Imagine a world without HIV!

That world is possible. Let us work towards it.

Read about the International AIDS Society:

About the IAS

Who we are
Founded in 1988, the International AIDS Society (IAS) is the world’s largest association of HIV professionals, with members from more than 180 countries working on all fronts of the global AIDS response. Together, we advocate and drive urgent action to reduce the global impact of HIV.

The IAS is also the steward of the world’s two most prestigious HIV conferences – the International AIDS Conference and the IAS Conference on HIV Science. These conferences have established a gold-standard meeting that convenes the world’s top scientists, civil society members and policymakers to jointly discuss the fight against HIV.

What we do
We promote and invest in HIV advocacy and research on key issue areas through our strategic programmes, initiatives, and campaigns, which include:

Towards an HIV Cure
An initiative that provides leadership in facilitating more concerted efforts to accelerate global scientific research towards a cure for HIV and in advocating for increased investment in HIV cure research.

Collaborative Initiative for Paediatric HIV Education and Research (CIPHER)
A programme aimed at optimizing clinical management and delivery of services to infants, children and adolescents affected by HIV in resource-limited settings through advocacy and research promotion.

Journal of the International AIDS Society (JIAS)
A peer-reviwed platform to disseminate essential HIV research with the mission to contribute to an evidence-based response to the HIV epidemic and to support research capacity building in resource-limited settings.

Industry Liaison Forum (ILF)
A mechanism to inform and support collaboration and partnership between diverse stakeholders, from both the private and public-sectors, including industry.

Nobody Left Behind
A programme that advocates for services across the continuum of prevention, treatment and care for Key Populations (KPs) in order to work towards the reversal and eradication of HIV.

Youth Voices Against HIV
A one-year campaign created by youth, for youth that was convened under CIPHER. It is aimed at collaborating and engaging young people through a series of in-person dialogues to influence and guide the adolescent needs in the HIV response.

Differentiated Models of ART Delivery
A two-year initiative to scale up differentiated models of ART delivery, focusing on the implementation of key elements of ART programming.

How we do it

Science. People. Progress.

Science. The IAS pursues and supports scientific advancements that positively alter the course of the HIV epidemic and promote greater understanding of these discoveries. The IAS pushes for the full spectrum of scientific achievement – from basic science to implementation research – and use the visibility of its meetings to highlight dynamic, innovative work.

People. The IAS invests in professionalizing and promoting the HIV workforce – particularly the next generation of HIV professionals – to build the skills and resources that are needed to end the epidemic. As a membership body, the IAS understands and represents the interests of its members in all of its work, retaining a global perspective that is relevant at a local level.

Progress. The IAS uses its scientific authority to move science into policy and policy into tangible impact against the epidemic. The IAS advocates for sustained global leadership and increased investment while keeping the fight against stigma and discrimination at the heart of its work.

For more read:

http://www.iasociety.org/Web/WebContent/File/IAS_organizational_strategy_2016.pdf