Hairdressers against aids

Hairdressers against aids.
Could the frustrating of HIV infection and AIDS be a comb, blooper and blow-dry away? That's the principle behind an innovative new national outreach effort, Hairdressers Against AIDS, which got its open Tuesday at the United Nations in New York City, in the lead of Dec 1, 2010, World AIDS Day. The leadership - described as "one of the largest HIV/AIDS mobilization campaigns in US history" - has tresses guardianship giant L'Oreal joining forces with nonprofits such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria (GBC) best vito. The objective is to empower America's 500000-plus locks stylists to use the relationships they have with millions of clients for salon-based chats on the how, why and what of HIV.

So "Today there is no vaccine," acclaimed GBC president and CEO John Tedstrom, speaking to 500 hairdressers who'd gathered at the UN for the launch. "There is no cure. We're getting there. But today there is only information. The more we talk, the more we educate, the more we slow the breadth of this epidemic," Tedstrom explained.

And "You'll shepherd millions of woman in the street hearing about HIV from clan that they know," he said. "They'll be hearing capable time-tested messages about HIV prevention, and they'll be able to pick those messages back to their slighting relationships. And then whether it's a mom talking to her daughter or a girlfriend talking to her boyfriend, it doesn't matter. We'll be able to have an grown discussion about HIV and libidinous health".

Using hair-care professionals to get well-being messages out to the masses isn't a novelette idea. Recent studies have shown, for example, that malicious men can be motivated by barbershop messages to put their blood pressure or get educated about their risk for prostate cancer. And the US discharge of Hairdressers Against AIDS is just the news extension of a global HIV awareness crack that's already in place in 30 countries throughout the world.

Hairdressers Against AIDS will basic offer in-depth HIV/AIDS background training to 1,200 "salon educators," relying on the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as their peak horse's mouth for HIV/AIDS information and forbiddance advice. The salon educators will then send HIV communication and resource materials out to about half a million hairdressers nationwide. Christine Schuster, L'Oreal transgression president of education and effort chair, called the effort an "advocacy program" that will capitalize on salons' tenor role in communities to help dispel myths, such as the estimation that HIV is no longer a significant health threat or that AIDS is now curable.

In fact, the manoeuvre notes that 1,1 million Americans are still living with HIV and every 9,5 minutes another American becomes infected. About one-fifth of those infected are intelligence to be heedless of their status. "We want to get the discourse started," Schuster said, noting that the nation's half-million hairdressers come into reach with an average of 20 million clients per week. "There's no better rank to have a conversation than in your local salon".

Within its head year, the US campaign hopes to stir upwards of 110 million American salon-goers, one haircut at a time. Outreach started in assiduous on Wednesday, with all 500 stylists who attended the UN fling headed to Times Square with video cameras to pump full of lead grassroots HIV prevention videos. The finished products will be posted on the campaign's Web site, as well as on other popular media forums such as Facebook, to jumpstart the tutoring process.

So "Education is key," said Johnny Wright, a famousness skin of one's teeth stylist involved in the project who counts First Lady Michelle Obama as one of his clients. "As ringlets stylists we have a life-and-death voice to help educate. So that means talking about using a condom, getting tested, conspiratorial your partner's status, knowing your own status, sly about the celibacy option if that's appropriate for you. All that needs to be talked about. And I recover it can be very friendly for us as hairdressers to communicate all this to our clients" medicine. GBC's Tedstrom seconded that notion, profession Hairdressers Against AIDS "a tremendous moment to make a big difference".