The Community Engagement Outreach Core (CEOC) will focus on engaging the Orangeburg County area community to support an infrastructure that promulgates the development and sustainability of programs, services, and resources, to develop, implement, and evaluate community-based programs, services, and resources, and to conduct community-based participatory research related to the overarching theme of the CCE-SPHERE: minority health and health disparities related to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), human papillomavirus (HPV)/cervical cancer, and other HPV-mediated cancers. As all of these are sexually transmitted infections (STIs) with serious health outcomes, the goal of the CEOC is to actively involve the community in the development and implementation of culturally sensitive and linguistically-appropriate programs, resources and research to eliminate health disparities in the incidence, diagnosis, and treatment of these diseases through community-based processes and building upon existing assets in the community. The CEOC, under leadership from the community, will seek to bridge the community to the CCE-SPHERE and institutional resources of the University of South Carolina (USC) and Claflin University (CU) to eliminate HIV/AIDS and cancer health disparities. Reducing the """"""""discovery-delivery disconnect"""""""" and promoting translation of what is known and what is learned to the community, as described by Freeman and Reuben, is an important part of this proposal and project and to eliminate health disparities.^'^ Throughout the CEOC proposal, the use of the term """"""""community"""""""" includes several different groups of people and individuals within the geographic context of Orangeburg County. These include people living with HIV/AIDS and HPV, area residents, cancer survivors, members of the medical and public health community, faith-based leaders, and members of community-based and government organizations. The investigators are looking to the members of this """"""""community"""""""" to help us understand the needs and assets of the community to successfully create linkages to the CCE-SPHERE resources. Eliminating health disparities in the incidence, diagnosis, and treatment of STIs will require culturally sensitive, linguistically appropriate public health efforts; community involvement and support;pooling of resources;and equitable access to quality health care. This will be achieved through expansion of the current COE efforts that led to the establishment of a Community Advisory Group (CAG) that will transition into a Community Advisory Board to guide the efforts of the CEOC; engaging the community in the discovery process;delivering programs, services, and resources;linking the community to the institutional resources;and outreach efforts (forums, focus groups, town hall meetings).
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