Wardah Rajab-gyagenda

Hiv / Aids and Immigrants: Knowledge and Perceptions of Eastern African Refugees in Metropolitan Atlanta Wardah Rajab-gyagenda

African Immigrants and Refugees in the United States go through a process of retention and integration. They retain some cultural and traditional characteristics of their homelands while adopting characteristics from the United States of America. Their duration of stay in the USA influences this process. Over time, African immigrants may regard themselves as, for example, Somali-Americans, Ugandan-Americans, or Sudanese-Americans because their identities and behaviors melded cultural features of both lands. Unlike most communities affected by HIV/AIDS in the USA, entrenched stigma towards HIV/AIDS and PLWHA exists within the African Immigrant and Refugee communities; neither knowledge of the disease nor duration of stay in USA seem to substantially reduce stigma against HIV/AIDS and PLWHA. There is an urgent need for community activists, policy makers, and providers to undertake a focused campaign to address stigma in these communities. Stigma will not go away overnight. It will require a systematic multifaceted strategy on the part of all stakeholders to fight it. Furthermore, African Immigrants and Refugees should also become competent in navigating the American healthcare system