“The Office of Health Equity (OHE) is pleased to announce an upcoming webinar series on “Building a Community Centered and Culturally Grounded Public Health System for Hawai‘i”. This series is aimed at equipping public health professionals, practitioners, and community leaders with practical strategies to integrate culturally grounded and community-centered approaches into public health practice. This series will explore the history of colonialism in Hawai‘i and introduce cultural healing models to support community and workforce health and well-being. Please feel free to share with your networks!

Session 1: I Ola Nō Ka Lāhui: Decolonizing HIV Care

Presented by: Kekoaopololū (Kekoa) Kealoha

HIV outcomes are impacted by a variety of social factors and can be, perhaps, best understood through the context of the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH). These determinants are shaped by our unique history. In particular, the legacy of colonization in Hawaiʻi caused significant social and political upheaval that has had lasting impacts on our people, our interaction with health care, and our health care outcomes. HIV offers a glimpse into one of the most extreme of these circumstances.”