HIV and CALD communities: Strengthening the health promotion partnership

Editor's Notes

• #3: AFAO’s African project began in 2009 in response to an increase in Australian HIV notifications among people born in Africa, and reports from service providers about the particular challenges faced by African Australians living with HIV (such as immigration-related problems and stigma). Program activities since 2009 have included discussion and briefing papers, a literature review, a mapping of HIV health promotion activities and three national forums, including one specifically for African faith leaders. The project will continue in 2016/17 with AFAO supporting our African Reference Group to become established as an independent national network. AFAO’s CALD project builds on our African work. While much of our policy work (for example regarding migration) has been relevant to CALD communities more broadly, the project formally began in 2015. This presentation will report on the two key components of the project to date: our 2015 mapping of HIV health promotion activities and the HIV and Mobility Forum held on 30 May this year.
• #4: In 2015, AFAO developed a resource for health promotion workers, HIV and CALD Communities: Mapping health promotion programs and resources, which lists over 70 health promotion programs and resources that have been developed to engage with CALD communities around HIV prevention, awareness and support. The resource is an update and expansion of AFAO’s 2013 mapping of HIV health promotion with African communities. The African mapping was evaluated before we started work on the CALD mapping and resulted in some changes to how we organised and presented the information, as well as giving us more ideas for how the mapping could be used.
• #5: Alison Coelho from the Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and Health, who was at the time an AFAO Board member, launched the mapping at an African community meeting at the time of the ASHM conference in Brisbane in 2015. The next few slides will go through how you can use the mapping.
• #6: The Table of Contents show how it’s organised – at a glance view of what’s happening around the country. Online PDF contents page is hyperlinked.
• #7: This montage gives you an idea of the huge range of initiatives that are showcased in the resource, which include: music, video and drama activities, translated resources, community forums, World AIDS Day events, soccer tournaments, cultural competency training, print resources, social support groups, outreach, peer education, advocacy, and internships.
• #8: One size doesn’t fit all, especially in relation to genuine community engagement and leadership around health promotion, but by showing the rationales and evaluation info about other programs, the resource can help you to think about how you might approach your own work. You can also ring the key contacts to chat about their listing if you want to find out more. Programs that have evaluated well may also help you in terms of providing supporting evidence for your own funding proposals and advocacy initiatives. Alternatively, if the evaluation wasn’t good, it might be a hint to steer clear of a particular idea, even if it initially seems good.
• #9: You can also see what kinds of organisations and agencies other programs have partnered with – could help you think outside the square in terms of seeking support.
• #10: The PDF hyperlinks to resources that are available online, or you can contact the agency for hard copies.
• #11: The mapping can provide new staff with a great overview of what’s going on in this space in your state/territory and around Australia. This new edition of the mapping includes listings of resources and programs that have been developed specifically for service providers, which may also be helpful in terms of skills-building for your staff.
• #12: You can also use the mapping as a referral tool, for example if you have clients moving interstate you can easily find contact details for appropriate agencies.
• #13: In May 2016, AFAO hosted a national forum on HIV health promotion for CALD communities, bringing together over 60 stakeholders from HIV and multicultural health organisations across Australia. The forum aimed to build capacity for organisations to develop future health promotion programs and resources through providing current information and identifying key principles for best practice.
• #14: The forum goals and program were developed by AFAO in consultation with a Reference Group representing our membership and partners in the Multicultural Sexual Health/BBV sector. In order to meet our first goal, we invited speakers to present on: HIV notifications among CALD populations CoPAHM and the HIV and Mobility Roadmap Culturally appropriate health promotion; and The impact of Medicare Ineligibility on CALD PLHIV AFAO’s African/CALD Project Officer also gave a presentation on the mapping and outlined some key challenges for health promotion, which will also be discussed at the end of this presentation. To meet the second goal, we ensured that the forum invitation list included as diverse a range of stakeholders as possible, including representatives of PLHIV and PWID organisations, sex workers, and gay men. The informal networking that took place was an invaluable aspect of the forum.
• #15: Our third goal was related to the new federal funding available for online health promotion for CALD and ATSI communities (Activity 4). ASHM was the successful tenderer for this activity – leading a consortium of stakeholder organisations including AFAO. The Forum program included vigorous facilitated discussions of best practice health promotion for M&M populations. The recommendations will be available in the Forum Report over the next few weeks. The key points were: Secure, sustained funding for effective programs and services Genuine community ownership and engagement at all stages of program development, implementation and evaluation Collaboration and partnership Programs must be informed by an authoritative evidence base derived from research conducted in partnership with affected communities Respect and inclusion – ‘no-one left behind’ (e.g. international students, sex workers, PLHIV in remote areas) Genuine representation of CALD communities at all levels of the HIV response, including in AFAO membership Build on what we know works. Due to the restricted time available, we were not able to focus specifically on Goal 4, however, many participants noted the need for more research and that available research data (e.g. surveillance) could be better distributed to stakeholder organisations. A number of social researchers were present at the forum and we hope that they were able to make use of the forum to make more connections with individuals and organisations who will become involved in the CoPAHM project and help inform future research.
• #16: What AFAO’s learned over the course of the African and CALD project work is that: Australian health promotion programs and agencies are developing and implementing a wide range of projects and resources in partnership with peers and communities. Community leadership and engagement are key to effective programs. Threats to the continuity, integrity and effectiveness of this work at both state/territory and national levels include changes to program funding criteria, competitive, activity-based tendering, and financial pressure. Organisations are having to do more with less. For example we’ve heard of valued, experienced staff being let go a few weeks out from a contract rollover due to funding uncertainty. We’re also aware of entire programs being defunded and transferred to different agencies – which potentially results in disruption to community engagement – very concerning given HIV is such a sensitive issue – lack of continuity for programs proven to be effective, and the loss of social capital (of both staff and community members who have become involved with programs and are championing the work in their communities). Activity-based tendering and the move towards more online health promotion is especially problematic where affected communities have not been consulted – for example with Activity 4, while both the Forum Reference Group and Forum participants appreciate that national health promotion funding for CALD communities has been made available, they also raised concerns that web-based resources are not the most effective way to reach CALD communities and have criticised this prescriptive approach by government. It is crucial that funders recognise the expertise of the sector when developing funding criteria and that effective programs be assured of continued funding.
• #17: The mapping is available online from the link on screen, but we no longer have hard copies available. Email me if you want more info about the project.