Sexual Health in Black Hair Salons
According to the Maryland Annual HIV Epidemiological Profile (2022) published by the Maryland Department of Health, Black women made up 89.7 percent of reported HIV diagnoses among females, a trend that has been persistent over the past decade.
To empower Black cisgender and transgender women with the knowledge they need to have fulfilling sexual relationships and be in control of their own HIV prevention strategies, JACQUES has partnered with HAIR (Health Advocates In-Reach and Research), a community of owner-operator stylists and entrepreneurs from Black owner-operator salons who engage in health education and promotion activities.
This innovative collaboration engages stylists as experts in engagement and communication on wellness topics in codesigning a sexual health curriculum that includes information about HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a highly effective biomedical intervention to prevent HIV that is underutilized by Black women.
Stylists will work with experts in sexual health (JACQUES) and human-centered design (HAIR) to develop their approach to sexual health promotion and PrEP education in their shops, forming a community of practice with like-minded stylists engaged in this work.
Watch this page for more information as this project develops!
Hepatitis ReLink
The JACQUES approach includes healthy citizens of Baltimore free of HCV stigma and overcoming health disparities, engaged communities, educated, aware, and accessing the resources available to HCV, and supported health care systems, pursuing a seamless HIV and HCV continuum of care.
The ReLink Project accomplishes this by partnering with the University of Maryland Medical System to review eight years worth of patient history to reach patients who may not know they are living with Hepatitis B and/or C. A team of Patient Navigators call patients and provide education on the patient’s diagnosis. They then offer provider scheduling, social resources, and follow-up calls to ensure linkage to care. Patients can be cured of Hepatitis C and live successfully with Hepatitis B.