The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #70150

Linda D. Mack Burch, MPH¹, Geraldine Oliva, MD MPH², Virginia Smyly, MPH³, and Sandra Johnson, MA³. (1) University of San Francisco Family Health Outcomes Project, 3333 California Street, San Francisco, CA 94118, (2) Family Health Outcomes Project, University of California, San Francisco, 3333 California Street, Suite 365, San Francisco, CA 94118, (3) Community Health Education Section, San Francisco Department of Public Health, 30 Van Ness Ave, Suite 2300, San Francisco, CA 94102

The Seven Principles project is a Centers for Disease Control funded demonstration project aimed at reducing black infant mortality. The San Francisco Department of Public Health in partnership with the UCSF Family Health Outcomes Project and a number of community agencies with roots in the African American community have developed a comprehensive cultural and linguistic strategy grounded in the seven principles of Kwanzaa. Kwanzaa, a holiday created by Dr. Maulana Karenga, reinforces seven basic values of African culture among Africans and African Americans. The Seven Principles,a set of philosophical tenets called Nguzo Saba in Swahili are: Umoja: Unity, Kujichagalia: Self-Determination, Ujima: Collective Work and Responsibility, Ujamma: Cooperative Economics Nia: Purpose, Kuumba: Creativity and Imani: Faith. The four interventions that incorporate the Kwanzaa tenets are: social support and health education, health provider training in cultural competence, community action teams and a media campaign. The project targets low-income women and their infants, men, community members, health care providers and policy-makers. Community Action Teams focus on reducing community and domestic violence, promoting tobacco prevention and control and improving nutrition while addressing behavior, lifestyle and social determinants of health. SevenPrinciples invokes the community’s voice in mobilizing to improve infant survival rates. Our presentation will describe our experiences using Kwanzaa based approaches in working with disenfranchised groups, introduce the evaluation model, summarize lessons learned in developing a community based infrastructure, describe methods for avoiding and managing challenges and making recommendations for successful; implementation of a culturally relevant intervention for disenfranchised and diverse populations.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to:
• Describe the use of the 7 Kwanzaa priciples in the development of community based approaches aimed at reducing health disparities in the African American infant mortality rates in San Francisco.
• Articulate the four promising interventions of the Seven Principles project aimed at decreasing black infant mortality.
• Describe innovative cultural specific approaches addressing behavior, lifestyle and determinants of health in San Francisco.

Keywords: Community Health Planning, African American

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.