Optimizing HIV and Health Services for Canadians of African Descent (CAD) women: A multi-sectoral and innovative approach to capacity building’ project.

Given the disproportionate burden of HIV infection among CAD women, the development of HIV and health interventions to respond to these increased risks and reduce well-documented barriers to HIV prevention, testing and treatment services is vital.
This program seeks to improve HIV and health services for CAD women in their reproductive ages through the implementation of community-informed and evidence-based capacity-building intervention that addresses the multiple and intersecting factors that impede access and utilization of HIV prevention, testing and treatment. The proposed program of research will be guided by an intersectionality lens and the tenets of community-based participatory research (CBPR). In addition, the concept mapping process will inform the collaborative data analysis and the co-creation of pilot intervention models, while the ADAPT-ITT model by Wingood & Clemente108 and the implementation science model by Fixsen et al 2005111 will guide the implementation and evaluation of key program interventions. Our project will facilitate leadership and capacity building at the individual, community, and organizational capacity to identify promising models for addressing HIV inequities among CAD women, and to support the translation and scale-up of new knowledge into programming and policy locally and across Ontario. Based on in-depth interviews (IDIs) and survey findings, this component will engage self-identified heterosexual CAD women, service providers, policy/decision-makers to develop effective and empowering responses that address vulnerabilities (e.g., racism, social and economic marginalization) and promote resilience and critical health literacy in the context of HIV and health.