Abstract
Barriers to accessing HIV-prevention services, experienced by African and Caribbean communities in Canada, is an issue warranting sustained research. This study seeks to achieve a better understanding of the nature of HIV-prevention services in Canada, and to explore the dynamics, which underpin barriers to accessing these services confronting African and Caribbean populations in Toronto (Canada). This study also endeavours to assess what is being done to reduce these barriers. Semi-structured qualitative interviews with 7 professionals and community workers who were involved in organizing, researching and delivering HIV-prevention services were conducted for this study. Four themes pertaining to barriers to accessing HIV-prevention services, including, levels of cultural competence and sensitivity among service providers; cultural and social stigma directed at persons living with HIV/AIDS; various social determinants of health, including gender, race and precarious immigration status’; as well as constrained funding resources that are available for service providers; were uncovered in the findings of the study. The paper concludes that several health promotion and health education initiatives exist, which can help reduce these barriers to HIV-prevention service access for these populations. However, in order to ensure their effectiveness there will be much needed involvement from community and other relevant government agencies, which will need to work separately and in conjunction with one another, in order to tackle some of the broader issues that affect these populations.
Highlights
1.1 Introduce the Problem HIV prevention is crucial for the long-term control and management of the global HIV/AIDS epidemic (Ng et al, 2011)
Four themes pertaining to barriers to accessing HIV-prevention services, including, levels of cultural competence and sensitivity among service providers; cultural and social stigma directed at persons living with HIV/AIDS; various social determinants of health, including gender, race and precarious immigration status’; as well as constrained funding resources that are available for service providers; were uncovered in the findings of the study
A key finding common to all the participants was that a lack of cultural competence and poor identification with the communities being served on the part of HIV-prevention service providers, could often act as a barrier to the uptake of these services by the target populations
Summary
1.1 Introduce the Problem HIV prevention is crucial for the long-term control and management of the global HIV/AIDS epidemic (Ng et al, 2011). A small but growing number of countries have reduced HIV prevalence through sound prevention efforts (UNAIDS, 2005) This has had a counter effect on the reality that high rates of HIV transmission have resulted largely from the failure of populations to use available and effective prevention strategies and tools, as well as due to poor coverage levels of HIV prevention programmes (UNAIDS, 2005). The latter has been reaffirmed by the fact that HIV-prevention services still don’t reach most of those in need (HIV Prevention Working Group, 2009). HIV incidence within these countries has changed little since 2004 (UNAIDS, 2011)
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