title: Opening up their doors: perspectives on the involvement of the African American faith community in HIV prevention in four communities.
abstract: In 1998, the U.S. government launched the Minority AIDS Initiative (MAI) to address growing ethnic and racial disparities in HIV/AIDS cases. The CDC performed an evaluation of its MAI-funded programs, including an assessment of community stakeholders' perspective on the involvement of the faith community in HIV prevention. Individual interviews (N = 113) were conducted annually over 3 years in four communities. The majority of participants described a change in faith community's attitudes toward HIV and a rise in HIV-related activities conducted by faith-based organizations. Participants attributed changes to faith-based funding, acknowledgment by African American community leadership that HIV is a serious health issue, and faith leaders' desire to become more educated on HIV/AIDS. Participants reported conservative faith doctrine and stigma as barriers to faith community involvement. The findings suggest that although barriers remain, there is an increased willingness to address HIV/AIDS, and the faith community serves as a vital resource in HIV prevention.
authors.affiliation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Health and Human Services in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wooster
authors.forename: Ariela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Eshel
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Meenoo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mishra
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Toledo
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Uhl
authors.forename: Linda Wright-De
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Aguero
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D012067:Religion; D014481:United States; D014505:Urban Population