BACKGROUND:
California is home to over 65,000 Hmong Americans with over 30,000 residing in Central California. Due to refugee camp closures in Thailand, over 15,000 new refugees are expected to arrive in the United States in the coming year (5,000 expected to arrive in the Central Valley). To meet the needs of this population, health professionals have worked to identify the most effective ways to conduct culturally and linguistically appropriate health education and outreach activities. Health department staff and Immunization Coalition members have partnered to develop unique approaches to educate Hmong families about the importance of childhood immunization.

OBJECTIVE:
Obtain data on impressions and influences affecting immunization beliefs in the Hmong community.
Engage support of community physicians who treat Southeast Asian families to develop useful and appropriate immunization education materials.
Develop radio scripts and utilize Hmong radio call-in show to engage Hmong community in dialogue about importance of immunization.

METHOD:
Surveys are conducted at the Hmong New Years Celebration held annually in Fresno, CA, which attracts eight to ten thousand attendees per day. Additionally, focus groups with local physicians identified challenges and strategies for communicating with Southeast Asian community and provided recommendations for education materials.

RESULT:
Results of latest surveys and focus groups will be shared at National Immunization Conference in March 2005.

CONCLUSION:
It has been over twenty years since the first wave of Hmong refugees arrived in the United States, often overwhelming an already strained health care and social service system. Health professionals can use these early experiences to develop and refine methods for conducting education and outreach activities by working closely with Hmong community members who were part of that first wave, and who are now educators and community leaders themselves.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Utilize community resources and respected community leaders to develop culturally appropriate immunization education campaigns.