Refugee and Immigrant Vaccine Alliance (RIVA) announces statewide launch, invitation for new members

The Refugee and Immigrant Vaccine Alliance (RIVA) launches this week as the first statewide alliance of refugee and immigrant leaders dedicated to public health. Located at www.rivaiowa.org and on Facebook at @rivaiowa, RIVA is inviting other immigrant and refugee organizations to become a member of the alliance, and advocate for health equity among the state’s growing refugee and immigrant communities. 

“We are proud to partner with other refugee and immigrant organizations leading the fight for equitable public health outreach,” said Henny Ohr, RIVA executive committee member and Executive Director of Ethnic Minorities of Burma Advocacy and Resource Center (EMBARC). “Accessible public health information plays a key role in building social health equity among communities. We need community leadership to successfully combat disparities in health care.” 

RIVA believes that equitable representation and collaboration from communities is crucial to address and combat public health inequities directly affecting them. As an alliance, RIVA will support member organizations with peer-to-peer support, vaccine clinic coordination, funding, multilingual educational resources, and more. Since 2020, our founding members have successfully vaccinated more than 1,500 individuals against COVID-19 through 31 vaccine clinics, and created or adapted approximately 400 videos or social media posts to reach more than 100,000 views. 

“The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated inequities across systems, particularly the healthcare system, disproportionately taking a toll on historically excluded populations, including refugee and immigrant communities,” said Dr. Maria Corona, RIVA executive committee member and the Executive Director of the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence (ICADV). “RIVA is an opportunity for statewide leaders and organizations to mobilize and ensure representation, resources and vaccine access are available to combat and address health inequities.”

RIVA’s Executive Committee is led by representatives from Nisaa African Family Services, Latinx Immigrants of Iowa, ArtForce Iowa, EMBARC and the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence (ICADV). To learn more or become a member, visit www.rivaiowa.org.