Intersectionality & Syndemics in the HIV Response in ACB Communities in Canada

Co-hosted by the The Canadian HIV/AIDS Black, African and Caribbean Network CHABAC, African and Caribbean Council on HIV/AIDS in Ontario (ACCHO), High Impact Field-Based Interventions (Hi-Fi) Lab, St. Michael’s Hospital, Global Network of Black People Working in HIV (GNBPH), and African and Black Diaspora Global Network on HIV/AIDS (ABDGN), this is an Ancillary Event to the Annual Canadian Conference on HIV/AIDS Research. The event is free and open to all conference attendees, as well as community members who are not able to attend the full conference. For more information please contact sbuhler@icad-cisd.com.

Agenda

Moderator: Alexander Asamoah, Peel HIV/AIDS Network/ACCHO

Keynote Address:

Instead of Treated We Get Tricked, Instead of Kisses We Get Kicked: Hard Knock Lives, Intersectionality and Syndemics, LaRon Nelson, PhD, RN, FNP, FNAP, St. Michael’s Hospital

Panel and discussion:

“It’s not just HIV…. I’m Black. ….a woman. ….a single mom…. on social assistance. … you can’t hide from it.”: Stigma, Intersectionality and Interventions with Impact for African, Caribbean and Black Women, Wangari Tharao, Women’s Health in Women’s Hands

“Can’t Truss It”: The Misrecognition of HIV and the Black Experience, LLana James, St. Michael’s Hospital

Translocating the local: Using transnational intersectionality frameworks in HIV ACB research, Lori Chambers, PhD Candidate, McMaster University

“The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle The Master’s House”: Theorizing Intersectional African Diaspora Epistemologies in an Era of Black Lives Matter, Leo Wilton, PhD, MPH, Binghamton University

Summary

African, Caribbean and Black (ACB) communities are disproportionately affected by HIV. Historically, strategies to address the needs of ACB communities have often been developed within the context of intersectionality; the interconnection of social identities such as race and gender, which experience intersecting and overlapping systems of oppression leading to disadvantages around knowledge, access and utilization of HIV care services. ‘Syndemics’ refers to the synergistic interaction of more than one disease resulting in excess burden of disease [1]. More recently, syndemics has emerged as a framework to ground HIV-related work with gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM). While syndemics has predominantly been used in the context of GBMSM health, it is unclear how well the concept lends itself to ACB communities [2]. Viewing challenges faced by ACB communities through a lens of syndemics may provide further insight into the development and implementation of effective strategies that prevent the spread of HIV and promote access to care, treatment and support.

This event will bring together stakeholders to engage in dialogue around the concepts of intersectionality and syndemics in the context of HIV and ACB communities, and will:

• Help participants understand the frameworks of intersectionality and syndemics and the similarities and differences between the two concepts;
• Assess the applicability and limitations of these frameworks in relation to the HIV response in ACB communities;
• Explore possibilities of a hybridized framework that is tailored to the needs of ACB communities; and
• Develop potential strategies to address HIV-related issues in ACB communities

[1] Singer M, Clair S: Syndemics and public health: reconceptualizing disease in bio-social context. Medical anthropology quarterly 2003, 17(4):423-441.

[2] Nelson LE, Walker JJ, DuBois SN, Giwa S. Your blues ain’t like mine: Considering integrative antiracism in HIV prevention research with Black men who have sex with men in Canada and the United States. Nursing Inquiry 2014, 21: 278-282.