WASHINGTON, D.C. -- United States Senator Daniel K. Inouye is pleased to announce that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded a $281,000 grant to Ke Ola Mamo, a Native Hawaiian Health Care System on the Island of Oahu, to expand and continue Ho'akahele, the HIV/AIDS Prevention Program for Native Hawaiians.

"Native Hawaiians and part-Hawaiians are diagnosed with AIDS more than any other Asian and Pacific Islander ethnic group in Hawaii. The mortality rate from AIDS is also higher for Native Hawaiians than for any group in the state," stated Senator Inouye.

Ke Ola Mamo has developed a prevention education curriculum that features: ways to create a cultural context in a workshop; resource materials on Hawaiian health; and activities on how to avoid risky sexual behaviors using games, role playing and exercises. This curriculum is being used throughout Hawaii by other Native Hawaiian Health Care systems: Ho'ola Lahui on Kauai; Hui No Ke Ola Pono on Maui; Hui Malama Ola Na O'iwi on the Big Island; and Na Pu'uwai on Molokai.

Program expansion includes training of staff to reach high-risk groups, counseling and testing in conjunction with the use of home-test kits, general prevention education and targeted outreach to those at greatest risk of infection.

The CDC grant will supplement a grant from the State Department of Health STD/AIDS Prevention Branch, which has supported the program since 1996.