 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Nawal Nour, MD, MPH, Department of Maternal Fetal Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA 02115, (617) 732-4740, nnour@partners.org, Kate H. Hayward, BA, Immigration and Refugee Services of America, 1717 Massachusetts Ave, NW, suite 701, Washington, DC 20036, Raqiya Abdalla, MSc, Somali Family Care Network, 4547 Maxfield Drive, Annandale, VA 22003, and Sergut Wolde-yohannes, PhD, Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center, 801B Tremont Street, Bpston, MA 02118.
Due to war, famine and political instability large number of refugees and immigrants are entering the United States than ever before. Refugees and immigrants come to their new homes with their traditional practices, including female genital cutting (FGC). Since at least 80% of African women refugees resettling in the US come from countries where female circumcision is predominantly practiced, a need for a health care system that is culturally and linguistically competent to care for these women has become more apparent.
In recognition of the need for culturally competent care for circumcised women, the African Women Health Center at the Brigham and Women's Hospital designed an innovative approach to improve the overall health of circumcised women. The Center brought together a multi-cultural, multi-lingual, multi-disciplinary team to conduct a two-day health training workshop that addressed health care access, health education and health promotion for circumcised women and health/service providers in ten U.S. cities.
Data was gathered from 152 providers and 232 refugee women for process and intermediate outcome evaluation of the reproductive workshop. The panel will: 1) Describe the process of designing culture, language and gender specific reproductive health workshop for East African circumcised women who are residents of 10 cities 2) Assess the barriers identified by circumcised women and their health care providers to culturally and linguistically appropriate care to circumcised women 3) Recognize the difference between refugees, immigrants and asylees 4) Examine the training module effectiveness in transmitting health information to refugee women with diverse language and educational background
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Health Care Access, Community Outreach
Related Web page: www.brighamandwomens.org/africanwomenscenter
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Brigham and Women's Hospital
Office of Refugee Resettlement
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Brigham and Women's Hospital - employer
Office of Refugee Resettlement - grant