Positive Life NSW

Project partners at the launch of the ‘Women and HIV’ fact sheet series

On 10 March, the ‘Women and HIV’ fact sheet series was launched at the Redfern Town Hall by Family Planning NSW (FPNSW) and project partners Multicultural HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C Service (MHAHS), Heterosexual HIV/AIDS Service (Pozhet) and ACON’s Women and Families Affected by HIV Project.

FPNSW Health Promotion Officer Marina Suarez notes that while there are a number of resources that provide in-depth information for HIV-positive women, the ‘Women and HIV’ fact sheet series seeks to meet the information needs of women from culturally and linguistically diverse background (CALD) and those not yet familiar with HIV jargon.

CALD women currently represent 60% of female HIV notifications in NSW.1 To ensure these women, and those with low literacy levels, have access to easy-to-read information, the project team engaged a plain English specialist to oversee the fact sheets. Project partner MHAHS is also translating the series into four priority community languages: Thai, Vietnamese, Khmer and Swahili.

It is hoped that these fact sheets will be a first point of call for HIV-positive women and women at risk of HIV. The topics include ‘Testing for HIV’, ‘Recently diagnosed’, ‘Treatment: The basics’, ‘Looking after yourself’, ‘Pregnancy and me’ and ‘NSW services & websites’. All of the fact sheets include essential basics about HIV and a ‘Further reading’ section.

Speaking at the launch, Kate Reakes, Pozhet, said, “At Pozhet, we meet and hear from women regularly who have so many questions around diagnosis, pregnancy and raising children, nutrition, disclosure, relationships, sex, keeping active, treatments and who can be accessed for what? These resources can be the first step to addressing their questions. I look forward to being able to direct these women to the resources.”

The fact sheets are available in PDF format on the FPNSW, Pozhet and ACON websites. They will also be available from HIV organisations around NSW, health promotion teams, HIV specialists, GPs, sexual health clinics, women’s health centres, services for CALD communities, Aboriginal medical services and services for women at risk.

About the project

The original ‘Women and HIV’ factsheets were written in 1997 as a partnership project between FPNSW and ACON. A review of the ‘Treatments’ factsheet was conducted in 2002 and further fact sheets were developed and the series was translated into six community languages.

In 2008, the fact sheets again came up for review. For the resource to be of high quality and appropriate for the women they aim to reach, Marina says it was essential to expand the partnership with the other two key organisations that service HIV-positive women and have expertise working with CALD communities: Pozhet and MHAHS. Upon review of the fact sheets, they realised they were out of date and agreed to work together to update them.

A formal consultation was held in November 2008 with a range of stakeholders to help determine the length, tone and topics for the fact sheets. Representatives from HIV organisations, medical and support services, and health promotion officers who work closely with HIV-positive women and with CALD populations provided feedback.

Reference:
1. NCHECR. 2007 Annual Surveillance Report, p. 25.

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You can find the ‘Women and HIV’ fact sheets at:

ACON
www.acon.org.au > HIV/AIDS > Women and HIV
Ph: 1800 647 750

Family Planning NSW
www.fpnsw.org.au > Health Information > Women & HIV Factsheets
Ph: 02 8752 4300

Pozhet
www.pozhet.org.au/resources
Ph: 1800 812 404