Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

An important priority of public health programs is the reduction of health inequity. If prevention-oriented health programs are not designed collaboratively, with the intention of meeting the needs of communities facing barriers to accessing services, there is a possibility that public health programs could increase health inequities. The EHVINA project (Enhancing HPV Vaccination in First Nations Populations in Alberta) is working to ensure that HPV vaccination in Alberta is successful in reducing the inequitable burden of HPV-related cancers in Alberta. This will be done by working with communities to gain a better understanding of current HPV vaccination rates and designing an intervention to increase these rates in grade 5 First Nations children, living on-reserve in Alberta. Nancy's work will use a comparative case study design with mixed methods to add to the EHVINA project by learning more about the unique context of each community. Increased knowledge of each Nation's strengths and health care needs will provide a foundation for the development of a community-tailored intervention to increase HPV vaccination rates. The comparison of the strengths and needs of different Nations will also result in knowledge that can be incorporated into service delivery for other programs. This program of research will have long term and short term deliverables. Short term deliverables to benefit community health needs are critical and will be developed in collaboration with community. Long term deliverables are; increased cultural safety of vaccination services, increased HPV vaccination rates and decreased cervical cancer rates in First Nations communities in Alberta.