Promoting a Healthy Community: Domestic Violence and HIV/AIDS Prevention

This year RIAC organized a discussion group about domestic violence issues in the Somali community. Our staff discussed about how to empower the community and inform them about domestic violence. We created a space in which Somali women could discuss this problem openly, facilitating a free flow of information about the resources available for the victims of domestic violence. In the process, we emphasized the health resources available to refugees and immigrants in the greater Boston area.

Together with the Multicultural AIDS coalition and Africans for Improved Access, RIAC facilitated basic risk assessment of HIV/AIDS in the community. Teenagers reported that our programs over the past year helped to decrease stigma around HIV/AIDS, and increase discussion and access to HIV testing.