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Claflin University and the University of South Carolina remain poised to reverse the staggering rates of cervical cancer and HIV/AIDS in Orangeburg County -- but not without the help of the community.
The two institutions are in the third year of a five-year, $7.5 million grant from the National Institute of Health's National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities to develop a third EXPORT Center.
Two other EXPORT Center grants have been awarded in previous years, including one between South Carolina State University and the Medical University of South Carolina to address metabolic syndrome.
The state Department of Health and Environmental Control reports that Orangeburg County ranks third in the state for HIV/AIDS cases, based on DHEC's Surveillance Report through December 2006.
In the past 20 years, oncogenic human papilloma virus, or HPV, infection has been linked to the development of cervical cancer. HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection that is passed through skin-to-skin contact.
South Carolina ranks eighth in the nation for cervical cancer mortality. The state's mortality rate is 37 percent higher than that of the United States (3.7 deaths per 100,000 versus 2.7 deaths per 100,000, respectively).
A S.C. Cervical Cancer Study presented to Gov. Mark Sanford and the General Assembly revealed that cervical cancer is the 12th leading cause of cancer death among women. Black women had a 60 percent higher incidence rate than white women and were 2.6 times more likely to die of cervical cancer than their white counterparts.
The community outreach division of the EXPORT Center, which has offices at Victory Tabernacle Church on Broughton Street, is working to reverse the discouraging statistics with everything from focus groups and the development of small grants programs to youth conferences and monthly wellness sessions at the Prince of Orange Mall.
A 20-member Community Advisory Group reaches out to communities to determine specific needs. The group meets at 6 p.m. every third Monday at Victory Tabernacle, and the public is invited to attend.
"The advisory group is a mix of people with expertise and tremendous knowledge of the community and has connections and linkages with community agencies and organizations that have resources or work in these areas (of HIV/AIDS and HPV)," said Dr. John Ureda, a community consultant with the USC-Claflin EXPORT project. "These are who I would call community activists, with regard to those diseases."
Tessie Haywood, CAG chairwoman, said although its focus is Orangeburg County, CAG recognizes that there are other needs locally.
"There has been discussion about working with other communities outside of Orangeburg County," Haywood said.
The community outreach division is currently working with HOPE Health, which provides outpatient treatment and care for people with HIV and AIDS living in Orangeburg, Calhoun and Bamberg counties, to fill a case manager position. It also works closely with the Minority AIDS Council.
Claflin University students have also drafted "illustrated story maps," Ureda said, which help CAG members to quickly identify community resources.
"It's a training map ... for us to look at where to outreach and determine how we go about contacting the various resources on the map," he said. Haywood said CAG also works closely with the South Carolina Cancer Alliance, and CAG members have been trained with the alliance's cancer education guide.
Haywood said youths and men having sex with men are the other two populations besides those HPV and HIV/AIDS that the grant is targeting. Tiffany Stewart is the EXPORT Center's senior community liaison, and a second one is slated to be hired soon.
"Focus groups were a main piece of our grant," Haywood said. "We went out into the community (including churches in North and Norway) to hear the needs and concerns because the community is actually lacking knowledge as it pertains to HIV and HPV."
The EXPORT Center has spawned the SISTA program, an intervention program for black women aimed at reducing risky sexual behavior and emphasizing ethnic and gender pride, HIV risk education, sexual negotiation skills and proper condom use. The community outreach division has also held a youth conference addressing HIV/AIDS and HPV at a local Seventh-day Adventist church and holds informational wellness sessions the first Saturday of each month at the Prince of Orange Mall.
Ureda said a small grants program has been set up for communities where focus groups have been held to tap into to supplement their own programs.
"We have money set aside," he said. "We want to make sure those services are being provided through funding or connections or linkages."
The EXPORT Center's motto is "Teamwork Makes Dreams Work."
"Our dream is to definitely make sure that we reach these communities in actually decreasing health disparities," Haywood said.
For more information about the EXPORT Center, call Tiffany Stewart at 803-240-3732.
T&D Staff Writer Dionne Gleaton can be reached by e-mail at dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5534. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.