Health promoters in central North Carolina took part in a 30-hour training on reproductive health

Tania Connaughton-Espino

The Latino population in North Carolina has quadrupled since 1990, making it one of the fastest growing in the United States. Emigrating primarily from Mexico, this burgeoning community has a variety of health needs, and one of the most significant is accurate, culturally appropriate information on sexual and reproductive health.To this end, Ipas, which has long had a program in Mexico, is reaching out to the Latino community through its Latina Sexual and Reproductive Health Initiative.

For the past two years, Ipas has been working with the advocacy organization El Pueblo, Inc., as well as Wake County Human Services, to develop a training program for Latina health promoters. Health promoters are community members who have a natural inclination to be leaders and help others. They serve as a bridge between the community and organizations that provide services: advocating to improve the lives of people in their community and providing important health information to their neighbors.

According to the 2007 North Carolina Women’s Health Report Card, 64 percent of Latinos in North Carolina are not covered by health insurance. Latina women are less likely to receive treatment for chronic disease — even though they have lower rates of chronic diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure — so they are more likely to die of these preventable causes. They are also more likely to have an unintended pregnancy and are less likely to seek prenatal care.

Since 2004, El Pueblo has trained 90 health promoters on topics such as immunizations, asthma, dental care, obesity and diabetes. In 2007, several health promoters requested training on reproductive health given the high rates of adolescent pregnancy and rising rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV. El Pueblo turned to Ipas to provide technical and financial assistance to respond to this request.

The result was a comprehensive reproductive health curriculum piloted in a 30-hour training program. The curriculum not only addressed prevention of STIs and correct use of contraceptive methods, but also framed the issues as human rights. Over 10 sessions, the training included discussions on gender, sexual orientation, abortion and how to talk to children about sex and sexuality.

The dynamic, participatory sessions encouraged health promoters to ask questions and to be open to new ideas that often challenged traditional beliefs related to sexual orientation, gender, sexuality and abortion.

All the promoters gave positive feedback, although some acknowledged that several of the discussions were often difficult because of the topic.

“This presented a great challenge in my life,” said one promoter at the end of the training. “It has caused great controversy internally. [But] it helped me a lot to speak at home with my children.”

Another promoter also expressed how hard it was to talk about these topics:

“I came with a closed mind. It is taboo to speak about things related to sex. I leave with an open mind. It was important for me and be able to talk about these things with my family.”

Ten health promoters completed the training on April 15^th and brought their families to the last session to celebrate their hard work.

“El Pueblo is thankful to have received funding from Ipas to train a group of promoters on reproductive health issues, issues that are often taboo in our communities,” said Florence Simán, director of health programs. “ We are thrilled to have the commitment of 10 Latinas to disseminate correct reproductive health information to others in their neighborhoods.”

Over the next few months, each health promoter will reach out to at least 40 people in their community to share the information that they learned. A second training for a new group of health promoters is planned for the fall.

Click here to read Ipas's report on reproductive health needs of Latinas in North Carolina.

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For more information, contact media@ipas.org