African Advocates Against AIDS Inc (AAAA) has been educating, sensitizing and engaging the public, communities, about prevention of infectious diseases and sharing of PPE’s materials
In an interview with our correspondent to celebrate AAAA’s 23 years of service, hope, and campaign, Carine Siltz Kapinga, founder of African Advocates Against AIDS Inc, said her organization has embarked on Education Campaigns, Community Outreach, Partnerships with Healthcare Providers, and a peer education program. She speaks on the challenges and success stories. These stories help drive our mission forward and encourage us to continue the good work of serving NY and its surrounding communities’ most vulnerable.
Celebrating the 23-year anniversary of HIV/AIDS awareness and COVID-19 prevention is a great achievement, Can you tell us the challenges and success stories?
When I came here as I migrant, I found there was a barrier in both culture and language, which caused great difficulty in being able to obtain care and services, while navigating these barriers. There was a need to create a culturally appropriate intervention program to address the gap between the African and African American communities due to the language and culture differences, this program was to serve as the bridge for this gap.
We started the program with basically nothing in the back of a church in North Carolina, where we would hold seminars and focus groups to engage the community. Through funding provided by the state and federal governments, we have been able to open three front door offices throughout North Carolina to better service the community. The biggest challenge associated with this program was when I had to relocate to New York during unprecedented circumstances, going through the New York shelter system and seeing the greater need that the most vulnerable citizens were in need of. I knew I had to initiate an HIV/COVID prevention weekly distribution system. We were joined by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the New York City Health and Hospitals, The Institute of Family Health, The Alliance of Positive Change, and BINK International Charity, along with many food pantries that collaborate with us to assist in bringing these needed resources and information to those in need in our communities.
You have a good working relationship with the NYC Health and Hospital, the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and other organizations, How have you impacted the populace, especially children, women, and young girls, with your outreach?
We are deeply grateful for the assistance provided by all of our partners, as they have assisted in bringing the tools and resources to allow our weekly distribution of PPE/HIV materials to the community in need, which includes women, children, and young girls.
With your leadership role as a founder of African Advocates Against AIDS. Can you tell us if there have been positive reports recently regarding the fight against HIV/AIDS, but how even is this progress?
There has been much progress made through this program. It took a lot of courage to initiate outreach to provide services and care for the vulnerable homeless population during the pandemic and to provide not just HIV/AIDS testing but also testing for COVID-19 as well, utilising connections in the community, such as providing free hair braiding, as an incentive to bring in more people to get tested to know their status, so they can get treatment and services as well through our partners. Doing this is important as 1 in 5 new diagnoses is a woman, and 1 in 9 of those newly diagnosed women are black or Latina, with 1 in 3 women with HIV born outside of the US.
Tell us how access to PPE materials, masks, Covid-19 home test kits, and HIV testing sites has reduced the high rate of HIV over the last decade?
Being able to every week bring the PPE to the communities has had a big impact in the communities in order to give them the tools and knowledge, so that they can have the correct and most up-to-date information to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and HIV/AIDS.
Stigma and discrimination are on those that are HIV positive, what do you think can be done to eliminate stigma?
Educating the community about the risk and protective factors of the disease can help to reduce the stigma individuals have against those living affected by the virus. As someone who has lost both parents to HIV/AIDS, I know what it is like to face the stigma of the community who does not understand or who is uneducated on the topic, which is why education about this is imperative to the ending of the stigma. HIV is no longer the death sentence that it used to be viewed as in the 80’s. With technology and research, though medication, people can live longer, healthier lives. This information is so important for people to understand so that they can feel confident and secure enough to open discussions about HIV and AID. When we have open discussions about HIV/AIDS, it helps to break the taboo of discussing the surrounding issues and to make it a more approachable topic.
How many children are affected by HIV/AIDS and what challenges do parents face in disclosing their HIV status to their children?
There are a large number of orphans in the communities, in part due to no disclosure. We do a lot of work in educating the mothers in a fight against AIDS, which was one of our programs in the state of North Carolina, which was televised on channel 10RTN, on how to help mothers engage in broaching the subject of HIV and AIDS as well as other STD’s and to make the conversations more open and informative while encouraging honest and free communication with their youth.
When is AAAA and partners starting their awareness and campaign in countries with high HIV rates in Africa?
In order for AAAA to service those African countries with the highest rates of HIV/AIDS, we need to establish more relationships with African leaders and international organizations that work in the field to bring resources to those communities in the near future. Using the success and models that we have utilised in both North Carolina and New York City, we hope to expand it to the African counties in need for children, women, and young girls who are vulnerable, and in need of these services the most.
To our partners: The NYC Health and hospital, The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, The NYC HIV KNOWS program, The Bridge Builder’s Community Partnership, The family affairs and mediation, The booth on the ground, the NYC Emergency Management, AFRICAN PARIDISE, The Bethel Emanuel Temple (BBET, The African Immigrants Commission of NY&CT, the Alliance of positive change, The Institute of Family Health, Healed by he’s Strips Ministry, the Greaters Highway Deliverance Temple, Angus Community, Bink International Charity, United airline, Jack fifth Avenue, The Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church food pantry, Christ disciple international ministries food pantry, Susan places women’s shelter clinic, Sauti Yetu/African women centre, Djaba African braiding salon, The new Generation Realty LLc and volunteers that been helping along the way
