The Minority Health & Health Disparities Research Center of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) held its second awards and promotion ceremony for summer interns on July 12, 2013.
Congratulations are in order for our own sophomore, Chelsea Browne (pictured at right, with UAB's Dawn Fizer). She received the second place award for her research project and poster presentation entitled "Gender Based Violence Among HIV Positive Women in Kenya." First and third place awards went to sophomores from UAB and Tuskegee Universities respectively.
Chelsea investigated a social and public health issue that is endemic in Kenya, where many women who are HIV positive live in silence out of fear of disclosing their status and hence many cases go unreported. Due to stigma, it is believed that the one in the relationship who discloses his or her status first is the one responsible for bringing the STD into the relationship as a result of promiscuity.
The prevalence and frequency of this was investigated through a qualitative study done at the National Kenyatta Hospital's Comprehensive Care Clinic in Nairobi. Two focus groups of 19 women resulted in 56% reporting that they experienced this type of gender based violence. Eighty-eight percent (88%) of these reported that this affected their attendance at the clinic and also their compliance with medications that slow down the progression of the disease to full blown AIDS. Recommendations from the study emphasized promoting greater awareness, support, and empowerment for women receiving this diagnosis. These resources would provide them with more support from their extended families, churches, communities, and others that have also suffered this type of abuse. Chelsea is currently a social work major with a dual career goal of Social Work and Public Health.
Oakwood is one of six HBCUs in the southern United States that is the sub-recipient of this summer research opportunity through UAB. The project is funded by a research grant from the National Institute of Health (NIH). The purpose of the project is to increase the number of well trained minority healthcare providers in the "Deep South." The students obtain rigorous knowledge and practical experience in research, scientific writing, GRE prep, and career planning. In addition, they get to see a wide range of healthcare professional schools and clinics up close.
Dr. Maxine Garvey (pictured here with Chelsea) is the OU campus coordinator for the project and provides career advisement and monitoring of the interns' academic progress throughout the school year.
Posted By: Reginald Culpepper
Friday, July 26th 2013 at 3:14PM
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