Female Genital Cutting in the Arizona Somali Refugee Community

Plain-language summary

The focus of this project is to elucidate the gaps in care and enhance the provision of FGC-related health care and social services for women in Arizona who have experienced FGC; engaging the Somali and Somali Bantu communities. As of 2012, Arizona ranked 7th in the US for Somali refugee resettlement. The Refugee Women's Health Clinic (RWHC) is a nationally recognized best practice model for refugee women's health, providing specialized care for women with FGC. The project will accomplish four outcomes throughout its three-year duration: 1: Identify specific FGC-related health care needs and available health and social services for women in Arizona who have experienced FGC to improve services to FGC-affected communities; 2: Identify gaps, barriers, and/or assets in FGC-related health care and social services for women in Arizona who have experienced FGC to provide improved services to FGC-affected communities; 3: Create and implement FGC education efforts so that providers improve culturally competent care for women who have experienced FGC in health care and social service settings; and, 4: Create and implement community outreach and educational programs among communities affected by FGC to increase awareness of FGC-related health issues, prevention and services available. To inform these initiatives, an established infrastructure exists through the Refugee Women's Health Community Advisory Coalition (RWHCAC), a team of more than 60 stakeholders from various local ethnic organizations, refugee resettlement and voluntary agencies, mental health and social services agencies, and academic partners and including local voluntary resettlement agencies (VOLAGs) and Ethnic Community-Based Organizations (ECBOs). RWHCAC will be (a) involved in the planning/design of the project, (b) encouraged to assume responsibility to identify additional Community Mobilizers, (c) engaged in aligning educational material content to cultural standards, and (d) engaged in evaluating the project processes and outcomes. Project strategies include: (1) identifying specific FGC-related health care needs and available health and social services for FGC-affected women including identification of gaps, barriers, and/or assets in FGC-related care (year 1); (2) utilizing results from the Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) to refine existing educational materials and implement educational outreach efforts across the state to improve culturally competent care among providers (years 2 and 3); (3) promoting outreach and education among FGC-affected communities through development of culturally appropriate materials and community education sessions (years two and three); and, (4) partnering with Arizona Department of Health Services, the University of Arizona, and African Women's Health Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital during year 2 to deliver inter-professional training workshops for health and social service providers on FGC, and with Johns Hopkins University for FGC teleECHO™ video conferencing clinics to promote sustainability via links to online resources, educational materials, and webinars (years 2 and 3). Emergent products include online learning components, community education sessions, FGC teleECHO™ sessions, and capacity building trainings for all partners.

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