Aminah Harden, MPH – WNCAP Photo: Urban News

Aminah Harden, MPH – WNCAP

Staff reports

WNCAP – the Western North Carolina AIDS Project – has long operated from the premise that education and awareness are the most effective prevention against the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Now in its second decade, the organization offers innovative programs that are made available free of charge to individuals and communities throughout WNC. One of the most important means of disseminating the program information is by using facilitators who are trained in various fields ranging from private medicine to public health to community development, education, and outreach.

WNCAP outreach facilitator Aminah Harden is profiled below.

Aminah Harden grew up in Savannah, GA and later lived in Atlanta for more than twenty years. Her family now lives in Atlanta, while she is a resident of Polk County, NC.

In Atlanta, Aminah provided technical assistance for health support groups on women’s health issues. She also worked for The National Black Women’s Health Project (NBWHP), based in Atlanta, and facilitated small groups of women at their annual health retreat: Black and Female: I Know the Reality©. Later, she moved to the Morehouse School of Medicine Community Health Department in its collaboration with NBWHP on a project to inform, support, and help high-risk and low-income women facing breast and/or cervical cancer. “Through this work,” says Harden, “I became interested in women’s health issues and the high incidence of death for African Americans in just about every disease that is a public health concern.”

In 1993, having received her Masters in Public Health from Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University, Aminah accepted a position with Teachers for Africa Program in the West African nation of Gambia. She taught one year at Gambia College School of Public Health, and the following year in Nigeria. She has facilitated HIV/AIDS prevention education to women and men considered to be at high-risk, both nationally and internationally.

Aminah has been on staff with the Western North Carolina AIDS Project (WNCAP) since June 2008, as SISTA Coordinator (Sisters Informing Sisters on Topics about AIDS). This program is designed for African American women, and teaches about HIV/AIDS, Ethnic and Gender Pride, Assertiveness Skills, Behavioral Self Management, Coping Skills, and more.

In March, national facilitators trained six new SISTA staff to help with community outreach and educating more women about HIV/AIDS. The six new facilitators are Shari L. Smith, Felicia Ellis, Allison Smith, Catherine Foster, Letitia Bromell-Ross, Gaylen Erlichmann and Keisha Hightower. Harden and two other facilitators, Lillian Butler and Jennifer Poore, received update training.

WNCAP is located at 554 Fairview Rd. in Asheville. For more information on AIDS-HIV awareness, contact WNCAP by mail at PO Box 2411, Asheville, NC 28802, by phone at (828) 252-7489, or by email at www.wncap.org .