Black Canadian communities are disproportionately impacted by HIV. To help address this challenge, we undertook research that engaged heterosexual Black men in critical dialogue about resilience and vulnerability. They articulated the necessity of making health services ‘cool’. We draw on the analyses of focus groups and in depth interviews with 69 self identified heterosexual Black men and 12 service providers who took part in the Toronto weSpeak study to explore what it means to make health and HIV services ‘cool’ for Black Canadian men. This presentation discusses the emerging themes from the study and make recommendations for improving the health of Black Canadians.
For questions:
dhs associate chair research@utsc.utoronto.ca
Join the event on Zoom here: https://utoronto.zoom.us/j/4891901344
Dr. Roger Antabe is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health and Society at University of Toronto Scarborough, with a graduate appointment in the Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto. He is a health geographer whose research interests span both the Global South and North (specifically, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and Canada), where his work contributes to health promotion and health equity. In SSA, his research examines environmental exposures, population health inequalities, health care access, and utilization of health services especially among marginalized and structurally exposed populations. His research focus in Canada is on the poor health outcomes of racialized populations and immigrants at the nexus of behavioral and structural risk factors. His current research examines HIV vulnerability and resilience of Black and other racialized populations in Ontario and Canada. He is passionate about community engagement and mobilization and is involved in some ongoing community projects that seek to promote health equity for vulnerable groups in Canada.