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What this program is about

The purpose of the Asian Women-at-Risk Education and Outreach Program is to increase Asian Canadian women’s and trans-women’s access to HIV/STI prevention & sexual health messages and services. Due to language barriers, discrimination, cultural taboos related to sexuality, and stigma around HIV/AIDS, many Asian Canadian women are relatively isolated, under-served, and have specific needs that are not met by other service providers. Through the provision of culturally and linguistically appropriate services, the Women’s program addresses and attempts to work through the barriers facing many Asian women. The program aims to promote healthy sexuality and safer sex behaviours, and to address social and economic factors that contribute to Asian women’s health risks such as poverty, racism, sexism, violence, ageism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, and AIDS phobia. We provide outreach and referral services, anonymous HIV/AIDS counseling, and workshops to both existing and new women’s groups in a number of East and Southeast Asian languages.

In late 2003, we started the Asian Trans Women’s Outreach project, the goal of which is to help build a healthy community and network of Asian Transgender/Transsexual women. This component of the women’s program conducts outreach and lends support to Asian trans-women by providing a safe, social space for them to meet and dialogue, and by facilitating their access to social and health services, and HIV/STI prevention and harm reduction messages. It is a peer-driven project that relies on trans women to help each other.

Services

We work with both existing women groups and new ones in various East and Southeast Asian communities across Toronto to provide:

• outreach and referral services
• workshops and information sessions
• anonymous individual HIV/AIDS counseling
• peer group support

We regularly conduct workshops that are linguistically and culturally appropriate for various East and Southeast Asian communities in the Greater Toronto Area. Workshop topics include:

• HIV/AIDS and STI Prevention
• Raising Sexually Healthy Children
• Women’s Health and Sexuality
• Anti-Homophobia
• Transgender/Transsexual Issues

Community groups that would like us to help organize such workshops for women can contact Jin Huh, the program coordinator. The service is free of charge.

Currently, we have peer educators who provide workshops in English, Mandarin and Korean. We also work with interpreters to provide workshops in other East and Southeast Asian languages.

Facts and Figures

• Worldwide, there are 42 million people living with HIV/AIDS. 38.6 million of these are adults, 19.2 million are women and 3.2 million are children under the age of 15. Five million new infections with HIV occured in 2002 of which 4.2 million were adults and 2 million of them were women. A total of 3.1 million people died of HIV/AIDS related causes in 2002 (WHO Annual AIDS Epidemic Update Report, 2002)
• In Canada, between November 1985 and December 2002, adult women accounted for 15% of the reported positive HIV test with known age and gender. The proportion of women annually increased from 12 % in the period between 1985 and 1997 to 25% in 2001. 45% of the AIDS cases among women were in those aged 15-29 years (Health Canada, HIV/ AIDS Surveillance Report to June, 2003).
• In Ontario, as of June 2003, of 7359 reported AIDS cases, 542 cases are women (Health Canada, HIV/ AIDS Surveillance Report to June, 2003).

For more information, please contact:

Women's & Volunteer Program Coordinator
Asian Community AIDS Services
33 Isabella Street, Suite 107, Code 526
Toronto, ON M4Y 2P7
416-963 4300 ext 25
women@acas.org