A research team led by Associate Professor Mark Henrickson of Massey University, Albany, has been awarded funding for a research project on HIV risk behaviours in African communities in New Zealand to inform HIV infection prevention and health promotion programmes.
The project, funded by the Ministry of Health and administered by the HRC, will support disease control objectives and disease prevention programmes for HIV in New Zealand-based African communities and is part of a Ministry initiative to promote positive health outcomes for high-risk HIV populations.
Associate Professor Henrickson and his team, including Associate Professor Nigel Dickson (from the University of Otago, Dunedin), will implement the research project in two phases. The first phase will involve determine the demographic characteristics of the African population with particular attention to what is known about HIV epidemiology and HIV testing. The second phase will utilise a survey and focus groups to gain more in-depth and contextual understandings. The research project will be guided by a steering group made up of a broad representation of African communities in New Zealand.
The project is due for completion in July 2013.
HIV Risks and Concerns among African Communities in New Zealand
18 months, $584,000
Principal Investigator: Associate Professor Mark Henrickson
Massey University, Albany campus
Telephone: (09) 414 0800 ext 9050
Project Summary:
This two-phase proposal responds to the need for improved understanding about African migrant and refugee communities in New Zealand. The project aims to provide information that will inform appropriate HIV-related prevention and health promotion among certain African communities in New Zealand. An essential component of this proposal is a steering group of African community and religious leaders that will be formed to guide the implementation of the entire project. Phase I will determine what is known about the demographics and HIV epidemiology in African populations, which will inform the design of Phase 2. In Phase 2 we will implement the more specific design developed in Phase I. This design will include both a knowledge, attitude, behaviour and beliefs survey, and focus groups to gain more in-depth and contextual understandings. Recommendations about the prevention and management of HIV among Africans communities in New Zealand will be made.