Title:In it together: Improving HIV health literacy

7^th International Conference on HIV/AIDS, STDs and STIs

March 18-19, 2019 | New York, USA

Moya Brown-Lopez

NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, USA

Keynote: J AIDS CLIN RES

Abstract :

This session will provide helpful tools for healthcare professionals to use when delivering health literate HIV services to diverse communities. Health literacy can be defined as the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions. A clientâ??s health literacy may be impacted by demands in the healthcare system as well as their personal experiences, skills, and abilities. Through presentation and interactive discussion, participants will explore how limited health literacy can affect health outcomes and how health literate approaches can be applied to improve communication with clients. Session content will focus on meeting the needs of racially, ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse people living with or at risk for HIV; and address how to recognize indications that clients are experiencing challenges, the importance of organizational health literacy, and steps healthcare professionals and their organizations can take to promote health literacy and deliver health literate HIV services. Participants will learn about strategies for improving communication with clients, such as the Show-Me and the Ask Me 3 approaches and examine the unique needs of the diverse clients they serve, particularly LGBTQ people, people of color, people with limited English proficiency, people with disabilities, youth, and older adults.

Biography :

Moya Brown-Lopez is a Maryland native and has been working in public health since 2002. She completed BS in Community Health Education at the University of Maryland at College Park and began working in HIV education and advocacy at Metro Teen AIDS in Washington, DC. In 2006, she moved to NYC to pursue an MPH at Columbia University and developed expertise in HIV prevention and harm reduction through work in youth development, substance use counseling, curriculum writing, and professional development training. She is also a Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES) and, most recently, completed an MS in Healthcare Delivery Leadership from the Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine in order to apply best practices in quality improvement to HIV prevention, care, and treatment.

E-mail: moya4901@yahoo.com