"Shop Talk"--Barber/Beauty Shop HIV Outreach

About the Program

Category: Health (Best in Category)

Year: 2015

To paraphrase an old idiom, if you can't get the mountain to come to you, you must go to the mountain. That is the simple concept that underlies the work of the Fulton County Department of Health and Wellness program “Shop Talk,” a novel, creative barber/beauty shop HIV Education Outreach program. It is staffed by trained health educators who distribute free condoms, demonstrate proper condom use, provide testing for HIV and teach safe sex practices to residents who frequent these locations. Unless they request it, most people who visit health centers for routine services do not get information regarding HIV/AIDS prevention. The outreach to barber and beauty shops, even nightclubs and other businesses—sometimes near college campuses—provides this potentially life-saving information first-hand. Business owners and their patrons learn how to avoid contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). At special “Shop Talk” events, staffers provide free HIV testing along with the above. The dates, times and places of those are advertised on radio by local DJs and posted online. The outcome has been dramatic! Health Services makes contact with hundreds more people than those who might come to health department facilities or to off-site health screenings. Staff members literally place the power to protect themselves in the hands of many of the hard-to-reach populations most vulnerable to STIs, HIV and AIDS.